Hey, so I made the mistake of going to a quicklube place and letting them change my oil when my back was hurt a few months back. I changed my oil over the weekend and discovered they'd put my oil plug in with an impact, it had to be 100+ ft-lbs of torque to break it loose.
I put a new plug in, and it's tight enough that it doesn't leak, but it definitely doesn't torque to 18 ft-lbs, it just kind of spins a bit. The threads are cooked for sure. When I change my oil next (soon, given how it's stressing me) I'm going to drill out the hole, tap it, and put a Timesert in. I've gotta prep for that in advance by like, buying an M14 Timesert.

Anyone know what the LR3 oil pan thickness is? The threads on the plug are about 11.5mm long, and from the crush washer to the end of the plug is about 22mm - but I'm not sure how much actual pan material I have to work with. Can I do a 12.7mm Timesert? Can I do a 17mm? I'm not in a great position to crack it open and measure, and there aren't any junkyard LR3s in my area Pick'n'Pulls right now or I'd go measure the oil pan on one myself.

Any help is greatly appreciated. And yes, I may just put a Fumoto in the plug anyways, but first I've gotta deal with these threads and I don't think they're gonna be good enough to fix with a thread chaser.

Edit: Just saw that sig and realized it's been over a decade since I posted here. I miss that D2 so much, feels like a lifetime ago. Funny to see I was excited about new spark plugs and wires in my early 20s.

 

Not sure off hand. But a paper clip and a sharpie can be used. Just hook the paperclip on the inside and mark the outside edge with a sharpie for a quick measurement of depth. You may also want to consider a Fumoto valve. That way you simply open a valve to drain oil without having the threads getting damaged.

 

The threaded boss is thicker than the pan steel and you could use the plug as a guide.