[jayprashanth]

Pulled out the oil drain plugs to change my oil before I fit an oil cooler to my Royal Enfield LB500(AVL Electra). The main drain bolt and the drain bolt with the gauze farthest away from the front of the oil sump was fine. The other drain bolt with the gauze at the front of the oil sump has partially stripped the female threads. Now there were small half circles of aluminum which came down with it and when I tried to tighten it, it gets loose after the point where it is the tightest. So, I have grounded my LB500 for the time being before a fix is worked out. Time serting is not an option as it isn't available here in India.

I'm leaning towards the helicoil or a self tapping screw. With a self tapping screw,I get to lose the gauze filter. So, that will be my last option. While researching helicoils, I found that the 14mm spark plug thread repair kit might be a viable option. But here again, there is an issue. Are both types of the oil drain bolt the same size. I measured both of them with a scale and both of them showed up at 14mm. But the issue on my LB500 is that both types of the drain bolt do not seem to be interchangeable even though they appear to be of the same size.

What do I do? Do I get the spark plug thread repair kit to fix the drain bolt or the regular 14mm helicoil insert? Here again, the spark plug repair kit sounds better as it involves no drilling, as it comes with a tap that has a reamer attached to it. This would suit me as I have little experience with drills. I'm not sure whether the spark plug kit will work on a oil drain hole even though the hole seems deep enough to accept the complete length of the spark plug helicoil..

If nothing works out, I might have to end up using  a self tapping oversized screw for the oil drain hole. But that option entails the loss of the wire gauze. What are the implications of this? Experts please help and sorry for the long post.

Cheers,

Jay

[Chasfield]

The gauzes keep big bits of oil contamination (generally metallic and ferrous) out of the oil pumps. The oil filter then keeps stuff out of the big end. The scavenge pump just sends it all upstairs to the rocker shafts bearing blocks.

Strongly magnetic drain plugs would probably work reasonably well in place of the filter gauzes.

Not sure what your best repair option is, though this problem comes up quite a bit on the forum, so there should be some good archived information.

[The Garbone]

You can get a repair insert from Napa that is made just for oil drains, it cuts in and has a smaller drain bolt in the center.  I do not have a part number but if you take your plug with you they can match it. The Napa I went to had about six size combos to choose from.

[jayprashanth]

Many thanks for the information Gentlemen. Yeah, I do know that NAPA stocks a few self tapping drain bolts but I am a few thousand kilometers away in Bangalore, India. So, I am tying to look for a workable solution locally although I might go in for the Napa part as a last resort. I have gathered quite a bit of information from this awesome forum and I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes.

Cheers,

Jay

[The Garbone]

My bad.... You could get one on fleabay....

http://stores.ebay.com/NDZ-Performance__W0QQ_sidZ715253087?_nkw=drain+plug+repair&submit=Search

Don't know about shipping though...

[Ice]

LB500(AVL Electra). The main drain bolt and the drain bolt with the gauze farthest away from the front of the oil sump was fine. The other drain bolt with the gauze at the front of the oil sump has partially stripped the female threads. Now there were small half circles of aluminum which came down with it and when I tried to tighten it, it gets loose after the point where it is the tightest. So, I have grounded my LB500 for the time being before a fix is worked out. Time serting is not an option as it isn't available here in India.

I'm leaning towards the helicoil or a self tapping screw. With a self tapping screw,I get to lose the gauze filter. So, that will be my last option. While researching helicoils, I found that the 14mm spark plug thread repair kit might be a viable option. But here again, there is an issue. Are both types of the oil drain bolt the same size. I measured both of them with a scale and both of them showed up at 14mm. But the issue on my LB500 is that both types of the drain bolt do not seem to be interchangeable even though they appear to be of the same size.

What do I do? Do I get the spark plug thread repair kit to fix the drain bolt or the regular 14mm helicoil insert? Here again, the spark plug repair kit sounds better as it involves no drilling, as it comes with a tap that has a reamer attached to it. This would suit me as I have little experience with drills. I'm not sure whether the spark plug kit will work on a oil drain hole even though the hole seems deep enough to accept the complete length of the spark plug helicoil..

If nothing works out, I might have to end up using  a self tapping oversized screw for the oil drain hole. But that option entails the loss of the wire gauze. What are the implications of this? Experts please help and sorry for the long post.

Cheers,

Jay

 Sounds like the screens to me.  
 Br's does anyone know off hand if the screen plugs and sprking plugs are threaded the same on the AVL ?

 Another tack to take is if someone can compare screen plug part numbers between AVL and Iron barrels ('06) to see if they are the same and as soon as the weather breaks I can go try to swap them in order to verify the threads.

[UncleErnie]

I would just use a heli-coil in there.  There isn't much pressure to worry about (not like a spark plug), so just don't over-tighten the plug/screen when you put it back in.

[Blltrdr]

Just screwed a spark plug into my sump drain hole on my spare classic motor. It seems you could use that heli-coil kit to make your repair if your 100% sure of the size.

[jayprashanth]

First of all, thanks for all the helpful replies guys. I really appreciate that.

UncleErnie.

I will head to the local market tomorrow and find out my options with the helicoil.

ICE,

Yes, the stripping is with the gauze filter bolt hole's threads.

Bill,

While I measured the size of the threads on both the oil sump bolt and the oil bolt with the gauze screen, both showed a similar thread diameter measure of about almost 14mm with the gauze filter bolt a smidgeon smaller but the difference is well under quarter a millimeter. But the drain bolt doesn't fit the drain bolt with the gauze's hole and the inverse too doesn't work. So, I'm still not convinced with the exact thread size. I just hope that the 14mm spark plug helicoil kit will work in which case the issue would be greatly simplified.

Cheers,

Jay

[UncleErnie]

When in doubt like that, I take my bolts/nuts to a specialty shop and have THEM measure.  Then I buy the heli-coil from them.  The package I get is a lifetime supply, but maybe you can sell the rest or pass them out at your Royal Enfield parties.

[jayprashanth]

UncleErnie,

Yes, that's what I intend to do tomorrow. I will also try to find a tap that has a reamer built into it so that I can avoid drilling the hole.

Cheers,

Jay

[singhg5]

Many thanks for the information Gentlemen. Yeah, I do know that NAPA stocks a few self tapping drain bolts but I am a few thousand kilometers away in Bangalore, India.

Cheers,
Jay

Jay:

I don't know what is available or not in India.  But if you need these bolts, send me a PM with details and I can look for them here in the US and will send you by mail.  

singhg5

[Ice]

Jay:

I don't know what is available or not in India.  But if you need these bolts, send me a PM with details and I can look for them here in the US and will send you by mail.  

singhg5

Good of you Sir.

[jayprashanth]

Jay:

I don't know what is available or not in India.  But if you need these bolts, send me a PM with details and I can look for them here in the US and will send you by mail.  

singhg5

That is so kind of you. I will definitely take your help if I need the bolts. As of now, I'm working on the helicoil fix. Once again, thanks for the kind gesture.

Cheers,

Jay

[Ice]

That is so kind of you. I will definitely take your help if I need the bolts. As of now, I'm working on the helicoil fix. Once again, thanks for the kind gesture.

Cheers,

Jay

Let us know how it works out for you.

[jayprashanth]

I got a tap and tapped out new threads in the existing hole to fit an oversize drain plug. Used a greased tap and a lot of filings stuck to the greased end. Then I flushed the engine with some engine oil with which all the filings got flushed out. So, all good for the time being. I also managed to fit an oil cooler, the pictures of which I will post shortly.

 Helicoiling will have to wait till I can lay my hands on a helicoil kit that I need to ship down from the United States. But helicoiling is definitely an option that I will implement in some time.

Last  but certainly not the least, I would like to profusely thank the wonderful folks on this wonderful forum who were a great source of encouragement and help during this entire episode. A heartfelt thank you to one and all.

Cheers,

Jay