Is this a broken radiator drain plug?

[mtthmpsn]

Originally Posted by Scott ZHP

Glad you've managed to extract it.

Every time I drain the rad, I now replace the o-ring on that screw. After the second time, I drained the rad mine started dripping and wouldn't seal. Maybe someone tried to tighten it to stop a drip and sheared the head off.

Thanks. And agreed - I suspect either the previous owner or the PO's shop broke the head off and left it the last time the coolant system was touched (70k miles ago if Carfax is accurate). In their defense, I probably would have left it too rather than extract, redrain, replace, and refill. Good idea on the o-ring replacement - hopefully I won't have to touch it again for awhile.

[dkl]

I see that they sell the entire plug, but didn't realized you can just buy the o-ring. But if the plug is that fragile, it may be wise to just replace the plug all together on each flush?