Rep Power: 0

To make a long story short, I'm about to enter into litigation over damage to my oil pan. I had an oil change done at a local place (OC) in September, then had the car serviced in February at my dealership. The dealership discovered a slow oil leak due to the internal threads being stripped, and an oversized aftermarket drain plug that "someone" inserted without first retapping the hole. Each establishment is blaming the other, but the fact remains that whoever stripped the hole and installed the oversized plug is liable for rendering my oil pan useless and the cost of the new one.

Right now the out that each of them are using is that regardless of who did this, due to the age of the pan I would have needed a new one anyway. "Oh boy, taking that plug in and out so many times over the life of your car really wears it out!" I'm not buying it, but I also don't have anything to substantiate my doubt.

I drive a 1999 Civic EX, odometer 132,000 at the time of the oil change and 135,000 at the time we discovered the problem.

My question is, is the age of my car relevant to this discussion at all? What's the average life of a drip plug/threads in an oil pan?

And most importantly, if age is irrelevant, would anyone be able to point me to statistics stating so, or be willing to send me an "expert" letter that I could take to small claims court?

I greatly appreciate input.

 
Rep Power: 234

If it's aluminum then, yes, they tend to get stripped more with age. BUT, if you torque it right and use a new crush washer it shouldn't strip out- ever. A new crush washer insures that you don't over tighten the bolt. You should be asking if they used a torque wrench AND a new crush washer.

 
Rep Power: 216

^Yeah. That's probably about as likely as them not using impact wrenches for putting lug nuts back on.
It's going to be tough to prove, but I can say that my previous car has 160,000+ miles on the original oil pan. It needs a new gasket, but the plug hole is pretty much like new. I made some mistakes back learning to work on it like not using a TW and a new washer, but it still doesn't leak or anything like that from there.

 
Rep Power: 234

FYI: The crush washer is the important part.

I have NEVER used a torque wrench on a drain bolt but, I always use a new crush washer. I've always just hand tightened it(with a wrench, of course) with the new crush washer and haven't had any problems. And this vehicle has an aluminum one.

 
Rep Power: 811

also tightening a bolt into hot metal will cause stripping. i learned the hard way and snapped a bolt. it just keeps turning and you can seriously overtorque it without even knowing. since im guessing the oil change took 15 mins and you drove the car in, it didnt have time to cool down enough to safely tighten the drain plug.