[fospa]

Hi.

I have an Ariens Snowblower and I would like to change the oil.
I am keeping to this howto:
Snowblower Maintenance - Change Engine Oil, Clean The Spark Plug - Craftsman 9HP

The problem is:
I cannot get the oil drain plug open. It is not rusty, but won't budge.
I tried two wrenches, no movement.
The only thing that moves is the plug plus the attached pipe. But the pipe should stay in place.
I also tried WD40, no difference.

Could you give me tips how to open this plug? (Without destruction)

 

[Pathfinder13]

You need a pipe wrench to hold the pipe while you turn the nut. Left loosey -righty tighty. Hold the pipe right and turn the drain nut left. I had this problem last year myself. Cheers !

 

[caddydaddy]

And go easy on the torque when you reinstall the plug. It need to be tight, but it's not a car lug nut!
Some owners manuals might even list a torque spec, but to me that's a bit overkill.

 

[1894]

I had to use vice-grips to hold the tube ( no room for any other wrench ) , some heat , and a long handled socket wrench . The cap on the tube had some kind of blue lock-tite stuff on it
Pipe thread paste when I put it back on

 

[Ray 1962 10ML60]

If you do take the pipe out with the plug its no big deal, just going to be more of a mess. Then you can separate the plug from the pipe on a workbench or in a vice.

 

[fospa]

Thanks for the answers.
I forgot to mention: I did use a pipe wrench and an adjustable wrench.
And its a normal screw, as stated above.

 

[CarlB]

I use teflon tape on mine and it will come off easier next time. Ps do not over tighten

 

[Pathfinder13]

Thanks for the answers.
I forgot to mention: I did use a pipe wrench and an adjustable wrench.
And its a normal screw, as stated above.

Just a tip the adjustable wrench usually will slightly open and start to round off the nut ,adjustable wrenches are usually a last resort, try to stick with closed-end box wrench if it's hexagon.. But if it's older square type then I do understand the adjustable.

 

[CO Snow]

As 1894 mentioned, use vise grips to hold the tube. Works great.

 

[Shryp]

If you need more room to work you can always tip the blower into the service position and then remove the pipe as well. All the oil will run to the far side of the engine and won't come out the hole. Just be sure to replace it before tipping it back down.

As for the adjustable wrenches opening slightly, I always wiggled them while tightening the adjustment nut while they were on the fastener. I always felt that gave me a much tighter bite.

And yes, I had noticed a couple posts of people saying they had loctite on the nut on the end of the pipe and had to use heat. That just seems silly to me.

 

[brickcity]

shryp
what's silly? putting loctite on the threads or useing heat to get it off.
just wondering.

 

[Normex]

shryp
what's silly? putting loctite on the threads or useing heat to get it off.
just wondering.

Blue Loctite is used once on the oil change nut by the manufacturer and no need to reapply some for the further oil changes.
Blue Loctite is the weak version of itself and no need for heat to be applied to remove the nut, now the tricky part is after one gets the nut off and the tube has moved, is to tighten the tube a bit more tighter then a regular tight for the nut. Good Luck

 

[Pathfinder13]

If you need more room to work you can always tip the blower into the service position and then remove the pipe as well. All the oil will run to the far side of the engine and won't come out the hole. Just be sure to replace it before tipping it back down.

As for the adjustable wrenches opening slightly, I always wiggled them while tightening the adjustment nut while they were on the fastener. I always felt that gave me a much tighter bite.

And yes, I had noticed a couple posts of people saying they had loctite on the nut on the end of the pipe and had to use heat. That just seems silly to me.

Hey Shryp .. I do that exact same thing as you, wiggle and tighten a couple times when I need to use adjustable, definitely tighter that way. One thing though, a friend of mine is a Volvo Master Tech and he pointed out to me once that it's still on two flats and a box wrench or socket is on six. The old style square drain plugs of course you have not much choice unless you have invested in those new fangled spline sockets.

It sounds like that thing was screwed on dry and the thread may have rusted or it was tightene way too tight. I usually make sure the thread have oil light coat of grease or at least some oil on them when it goes back on. I just bought a "Drainzit" hose for the new engine, it will be interesting to see how that holds up.

 

[POWERSHIFT93]

SLAP DRAIN ZIT on there and call it a day well done. ALOHA from the unfrozen TUNDRA.

 

[brickcity]

Blue Loctite is used once on the oil change nut by the manufacturer and no need to reapply some for the further oil changes.
Blue Loctite is the weak version of itself and no need for heat to be applied to remove the nut, now the tricky part is after one gets the nut off and the tube has moved, is to tighten the tube a bit more tighter then a regular tight for the nut. Good Luck

I thought the loctite was put on the threads on the end of the drain pipe by the owner. must have read that wrong because it would be silly to put loctite on the plug.
also seems silly to apply heat also unless you cant take the pipe out that everyone holds down with a vice grip to keep from spinning
now i'm really confused

 

[knu2xs]

I just did the first oil change on my new Ariens and noticed the Loc-Tite (blue) on the drain plug.
My drain tube has a flat portion for using a wrench to hold it in place.
It was hard to see, but it was there, on mine at least.

 

[Normex]

And yes, I had noticed a couple posts of people saying they had loctite on the nut on the end of the pipe and had to use heat. That just seems silly to me.

shryp
what's silly? putting loctite on the threads or useing heat to get it off.
just wondering.

also seems silly to apply heat also unless you cant take the pipe out that everyone holds down with a vice grip to keep from spinning
now i'm really confused

What Shryp meant was people using heat on the pipe plug having the weak Loctite holding the plug. Blue Loctite is weak enough holding the part from coming off loose with vibration. The next step up is the Red Loctite which is meant to hold a part permanently (even with engine heat) but not impossible to get off.

 

[dbert]

If you do take the pipe out with the plug its no big deal, just going to be more of a mess. Then you can separate the plug from the pipe on a workbench or in a vice.

This would be my plan of attack. Perhaps some thin cardboard tucked under it to reduce the mess. Once the whole thing (pipe and cap) is off, you can be more aggressive in getting the cap off without any concern of damaging the engine block.

 

[Ray 1962 10ML60]

When you do get out, I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip down the plumbing aisle at your local hardware store and putting a ball valve on like this. They run around $10-15 but IMO, well worth it if you want to do regular maintainance. Then I just put the orig plug back in the end to keep water out of it. Easy peasy...

 

[Pathfinder13]

shryp
what's silly? putting loctite on the threads or useing heat to get it off.
just wondering.

aaahuh. yeah. check.