Hi folks.

I was attempting to DIY my oil change on my '13 FLS recently. The engine and primary went swimmingly using YouTube and the manual as my guide. However, on the transmission I am dead stuck right now. Why?

The drain plug.

I managed to get the plug out without difficulty. Drained the fluid, no problems. But the damned plug won't reinstall! I've tried it by hand, with the socket, with an allen wrench, turning left, turning right, every trick I can think of, but I just can't get it started again. The hole and plug appear undamaged to my eyes, but I've added pictures for your hopefully more expert analysis: https://www.dropbox.com/sc/jqya8llt0lruncq/b08vLawLam

Suggestions?

 

In your pics it looks like the plug should go right back in. Only thing I can think of is maybe the plug was previously cross-threaded, but you would of had a hard time getting it out.......otherwise......beats me.

 

Looks fine I must say. I avoid using tools to reinstall things like plugs, as they don't have the same 'feel' as fingers. Is there someone else you can ask? Doesn't matter if they don't know what a drain plug is, they may be able to do it. Leave them to it, don't stand over them. Look on it like asking an eight year old to explain how that new cell-phone works!!!!!

 

Stop using anything but a long allen wrench. I could be wrong since the last person used tape which should not be necessary with the MS O-ring fitting. However it does not hurt. I can see some damage on the front thread of the bolt and also it appears to me that the first half of the thread in the hole is gone. You may be able to salvage it by getting you a new bolt. Get you a small jewlers V three sided file. In the new bolt, cut one small V chip notch in the front at a 45 degree angle about the depth of the thread. Then carefully start it square and slot in the hole. When it catches, turn one turn and remove and clear chips. Repeat turning till it stops and then one turn further. If you just put a tap in the hole, there is a good chance you will just start in wrong place and destroy the last threads. Once you get it to clean up, Install a new o-ring and see if the bolt will hold torque. 14-21 ft lbs.

 

OP, if you look carefully in the case at the farthest point in the threaded hole, it appears that a piece of metal thread is sticking away from the rest of the hole. This is most likely from the hole being buggered from cross threading. The fact that what looks like teflon plumbers tape on the deepest inner threads indicates to me that whoever installed the plug didn`t understand that he should have used a torque wrench. `Best bet is to check the plug with a thread gage to positively determine the thread size (my guess is a 1/4" female pipe thread), and use the proper tap to chase out the buggered threads. Also get a new plug and o-ring, but when tightening to be extremely careful with the torque wrench needed. Also, since the thread chasing will slightly enlarge the hole, be prepared to use slightly less torque than required and carefully check for a leak when the engine and trans is warm. You may have to improvise by using a slightly thicker o-ring than the original. The intent of using an o-ring in the first place was to prevent the need to tighten this tapered fitting a whole lot. Oh, as someone said earlier, always start any threaded fitting with the fingers. This also needs to be observed with even more care when using the tap to chase the threads. One more thing, use a vacuum cleaner to suck out any shavings which may be left in the hole, so they won`t get into the case. Even though gravity is your friend in this situation, don`t leave anything to chance.

 

I added a little detail to my post 4 on the MS thread. It's not NPT or even NPS pipe thread. It is a MS Seal Port thread. Do a google search on it. My old 04 does have a 1/4 NPT plug in the primary, but it has an 03 cover on it. Think 03 was the last year on the big bikes that Harley used NPT pipe plugs in them.

 

Last bike back in 2001 - I put tape on a plug - ended up cracking the case, never did leak and I was shocked my service guy even found micro crack.

Moral of the story. STEEL plug into an alum case - I was told 'Never' use tape - puts too much pressure on case.

Food for thought

 

It looks like a few threads missing in case. plug shows Teflon where no threads made contact. hard to tell but it looks like the first thread on the plug is also messed up. chase the thread in the case. you may want to get a new plug.

 

Difficult to see but it looks like the case is missing threads (stripped ?)
Looks like white teflon paste was used on plug.
If the case was stripped then you need to decide what action to take:
Clean and re-tap to a different thread?
Check plug size and see if you can use a piggy back one time oversize plug.
Check plug size and see if you can use a one time over size magnetic plug.
If you go to oildrainvalve.net (just use to learn) you can see that some quick drain valves are available if you can get some bite on the case and then just leave it installed but need to check external clearance issues.
You appear to have some internal clearance issues that will not allow a longer lug to be used.
Finally there is a rubber oil drain plug that expands with a wing nut.
When you go to a major autopart shop you will notice a tree of oil drain plug solutions.

 

Originally Posted by brithebold View Post
Finished tonight finally. Used the time-sert drain pan repair kit 0122A as recommended above. and I think its the best answer to this problem. This kit also contains a tap guide to keep things square. This kit as I've measured allows full draining of the case and if used correctly should almost never wear out. Please read my note also its an important lesson I learned.
Any way I placed cushions down and rolled the bike to its side. Next removed the shocks for access. Cleaned the area and got out my drill block etc. .About 75% my old threads were gone away and only a few remained in the hole.They looked messed up also. I was able to hold the drill block on the flat face of the drain hole boss. This allowed a nice square to the boss hole drilling. I used a tap "T" handle for the drill bit. The case was soft and drilled by hand with the T. Used a stop collar so as to not drill inside the case internals. I then used the cutter provided by time-sert and cut a nice square flat area for the sert as instructed. I used grease to capture every cutting I could for both drilling & tapping. Changed it many times and reapplied. Still found copious amounts of cuttings when flushing the trans. The sert was lubed as required for the sert setter/driver but cleaned on the outside.with solvent (throttle body spray), also the new threads in the case and used high heat/high strength locking agent. Every thing went well and looked proper which is unusual for my garage. I left the bike for 48 hours for a good cure on the locking agent. Replaced the shocks and stood the bike up. Started to flush.

note: Bought a new magnetic stock drain plug from HD to use. It would not fit or start. Suspected bad things with time-sert. Got out a 1/4-20 fine nut. Plug would not thread into it either. Got out my die set. Well well well plug would not fit the die either. Nor the neighbors die either. Plug covered with white stuff. Cleaned off all the white stuff. Still no fit. Ran the plug into the die. Die started cutting the second thread bringing off a thin sliver of a cutting, small but certainly enough to mess up these soft alloy case holes. Once the die was farther along maybe 3 1/2 or 4 threads all resistance went away and rest of threads were fine all the way to the o ring. This was a new plug. Now it fit the nuts, dies and low and behold the time-serted drain. Screwed in with only fingers all the way to the o ring. This is a fine thread (1/2x20 plug steel going to fit into soft alloy any defects (made in China plug) will mess up your case. I will be checking every plug and other things before changing them. PS my bike came with messed up hole threads and this is the only time I have ever put the plug into the case (time-serted). The old original plug also found with poor non fitting threads and probably caused the problem since built 07
sapringer.
Flushed with 2 gallons varsol with some dex3 tranny oil added (it prevents flash rust if the solvent drys in humid areas). Probably 20+ flushes. Metal alloy cuttings continued to come out right until the end (+2 steel shavings from I know not where). Plug went into the sert many times always with fingers and an easy start in an awkward area. I am very please with this repair. I think it is stronger than original. Trans is full now so a good ride tomorrow to warm everything up and circulate everything and then another drain hot and replace the oil for any last cling ons and cuttings. Happy camper. A little more work and many ways to solve this problem but if you are keeping your bike for a while I think this is the best repair.