Can ya run a thread chaser thru it instead?
Deciding which way to fix it is usually based on location and surrounding material.
Good thing is those bolts are low-torque.

 

Can ya run a thread chaser thru it instead?
Deciding which way to fix it is usually based on location and surrounding material.
Good thing is those bolts are low-torque.

Thanks but I think it's too far gone for that.
On the 2012 Camry that drain plug is angled down so that there's plenty of clearance for a varity of fixes.

 

Use a helicoil, should do fine on an oil pan.

 

Tap new bigger threads and replace the plug to fit. Use fine pitch tap. Put heavy grease on the tap so it holds onto the filings.

 

Is it steel or alu?

 

My 15 is steel

 

i would try a new plug first. if that didnt work auto parts stores carry a larger self tapping plug ive had luck with in the past.

 

The only problem I have had with the self tappers is. After the next oil change and every one there after, if you don’t get the threads started in the same place, it just starts tapping more threads. Could be problems in the long term.

 

Drain plugs and the pan's threaded bung are designed for quite heavy torque application, the better to allow a drain plug to resist a heavy blow from road debris without loosening.

As such, the self-tapping, slightly-oversized plugs are great, as long as the person changing the oil knows what they are looking at, and uses a bit of extra care. There won't be any self-tapping "action" during subsequent oil changes as long as the plug is started cleanly in the pan's new threads threads going forward.

 

I know nothing about the configuration of the bottom of the engines used in Camry's but is it possible to replace the oil pan (lower pan if it's two pieces). I wound up doing that in my Tacoma 4.0L when the oil drain plug bolt would no longer stay put after 400,000 something miles

 

Location and adjacent material determine the best repair.
Low-torque bolts are good.

 

Can OP post some pictures of the drain plug that came out, and the oil pan hole if possible?
All the suggestions won't help if you don't know what you are working with!

For all I know, I could have tap it and put one of this on;
Amazon.com: Fumoto Original F-108 with LC-10 Lever Clip F-Series Engine Oil Drain Valve, 1 Pack : Automotive

Just saying

 

The very last thing that you want on a street-driven car is a drain valve protruding, waiting to get whacked/damaged by whatever trash inevitably passes under you car at 70mph.
As I mentioned earlier, drain plugs/pans are made to take serious wrench torque for the same reason, so as to be able to take a heavy strike without loosening. When, not If!

 

 

No need for any steel thread insert on the Camry, since the pan is made of steel.

It's simple to probe the stripped hole to determine it's depth, likely the oversized "chaser" plug is shorter than the hole so no shavings should get above the inside end of the hole.

Beware of any repair plug that uses a rubber washer. The amount of torque on the bolt would need to be drastically reduced, and the reduced torque and bolt tension may not retain the bolt reliably!(!)
I would replace any such polymer washer with an aluminum, copper or even steel washer.

 

If you say so!

Because that is what a lot of fleet cars, trucks and vans use, since they require frequent oil changes, being on the road so often. Taking the drain plugs on n off enough times, even if you use a torque wrench every time, who can say what will happen to the threads.

Unless you had used one before and that’s what happened to you!
Btw, I was being sarcastic because so many suggestions without even knowing what they are dealing with.
Again, just saying!

 

Just having noticed that the threaded stem is hollow brass, those valves won't take impact anything like the original bolt will, and they protrude.
In other words, you won't find one on a police car.

 

 

Looking at the video, seems like a guy willing to experiment with a weakly-retained drain plug.

The washers he bought don't look like a decent fix for a stripped pan, but he arrived at a fix.

There was a progression of ever-weaker threads compressing ever-softer gasket materials that was found to work.
Removing the plug might indicate just how well that the thread "sealer" can hold the plug from turning "actually feels like it's in there pretty good" as he mentioned.
The "sealer" sounds to me like the 243 grade of Loctite, the one that works on oily threads. I've used it and it does achieve a very good grip on oily/greasy threads!

Bummer that he couldn't get the double-oversized plug started, might achieve a tight enough threading/turning fit that high bolt tension isn't needed to keep the bolt from loosening, and which jibes with the use of the rubber washer that these plugs come with.
The tip is deeply slotted, so one can tap the bolt/plug in with a hammer and which will compress the two sides together like a spring until the threads start catching (make sure the plug is going in straight before turning it in further).
But interference at the threads will eventually loosen after a few (or a many) oil changes, so the thread locker "sealer" might be especially important in the more distant future.