Leaky oil pan drain

[Jchanunc]

First oil change on the recently acquired rig and I was a little nervous with all of the sealant packed around the drain plug. I had a new OEM gasket on hand and went for it. Threads seemed ok, so I put new gasket on and snugged up the plug. Threads seem ok. Had a slow steady leak from the bottom most part of the hole. Drained again and took a closer look. Turns out there is a slight indentation at the periphery of the hole that sits beneath the gasket and causes a tiny channel for a leak under the gasket (see picture, area between the red arrows). It is palpable when you run your finger around the edge and is very slightly depressed. Any thoughts on a fix here?

 

[Splangy]

You could smooth it out with a flap disk. You could put a weld bead down first if it's deep enough.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Weld and maybe rethread . Mike

 

[Ming89FJ62]

try a mill file and file it down by hand to flatten out the depression - worked for me. Or just put a bit of RTV on the one side of the gasket but clean the contact surface with some brake clean first

 

[antFJ]

somewhere there is a thread on this.. very common from over tightening. The recommendations were similar to the ones above... either that or just get a thick rubber gasket or use some rtv each time.

 

[Rock40]

You may try some hardener like "water weld" which you mix up by hand. It sticks to anything and dries very hard very quickly. If you have a depression, you can sand the surface back down flat after building it up.