Hello:
Replaced the oil in my Ariens snowblower for the season yesterday by draining it out thru the drain tube they have on the bottom of the engine. The engine appears to be an AL block.
Had a devil of a time loosening the plug at the end, and finally ended up having to remove the complete draintube itself from where it is screwed into the engine block. Has NPT male threads on both tube ends.
Anyway, might have been a bit too ambitious in tightening it back into the block.
Head a fairly loud "ping", but it still "seem to" snuggle up tight into the block, and no evidence of stripped threads. No discernable oil leakage anywhere.
Probably getting a bit ahead of myself in worrying about this possibility now, but thought I'd ask:
Think it's likely the male tube going into the block a bit too much (as it has the tapered NPT thread) split the Al block at that point ? The noise of the ping I heard makes me wonder ?
Or, perhaps the noise was a thread skipping, or... ?
Main question: If the block is split there, can it be re-welded ? Or ?
Thanks, Bob