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So, just to check I looked at my old used drain plug from my 991.2 GT3 for that #1 location on the back of the engine. It had the 8mm hex instead of the XZN. The diameter of the head, the shape of the transition from the head to the threads and the thread size and pitch are all identical.
The only difference besides the annoying XZN is the new plug is 1mm shorter (14mm vs 15mm). I am now thinking it’s most likely that Suncoast gave me the wrong plug. Can anyone else check to see if the rear drain plug has a hex or XZN head, please (my car is not available to check). Thanks!!
Seems very unlikely that they would have changed the oil pan/sump, so that the old 1mm longer plug wouldn't work...
Are you able to see whats on the car? Does it have the XZN?
Hoping someone can (I asked in post above). I have chatted with Suncoast several times and they insist they sent the correct new plug with XZN (but I am not confident they are correct or even understand the question). And if the new plugs do have XZN, I am thinking it would probably be possible to remove and replace with the old plug from 991.2 (and it's easier to use 8mm hex). We would need to use XZN socket once to remove original plug, but wouldn't need to torque with it (if cars are really coming with XZN plugs).
Could it be an improvement? It's pretty easy to strip the hex if you have a crappy tool.
It could be an improvement if the torque was higher (but seems it's actually pretty low - 31Nm or 23 Ft-Lbs - I think most decent 8mm bits should work) and if there was more room to torque with the clumsy XZN bit. Most people had difficulty getting a torque wrench on the old 8mm bit and the new one should be even more challenging (I use a Stahlwille torque wrench with interchangeable heads that has an 8mm box wrench head to fit over 8mm Allen bit).
I ordered the stubby as it's pretty tight in there. I would actually prefer to find a head head that fits and is the same as the other plugs. Given the torque specs, the triple square is overkill, and just stops most tinkerers from doing their own oil changes.
I ordered the stubby as it's pretty tight in there. I would actually prefer to find a head head that fits and is the same as the other plugs. Given the torque specs, the triple square is overkill, and just stops most tinkerers from doing their own oil changes.
Did you confirm that your car has the triple square head?
Here’s a little more evidence that I may have received the wrong part - this is the plug a friend received from a different source with a hex head:
Sorry about any confusion from the post above - this hex head plug from my friend is the one for the tank (not the back of the engine) - so still not closer to unraveling the mystery...
11-01-2021, 06:39 PM
