Oil Change Fiasco
06-17-2018, 07:49 PM
#1
Pro
Thread Starter
Oil Change Fiasco
So after owning the car for 13 years I finally decided to change the oil myself on a nice sunny warm Sunday afternoon. Other than a few extra drips and splashes from the old oil draining, everything went fine, or so I thought. New filter element, O Ring, 9 quarts of oil, etc... While re tightening the magnetic drain plug I snugged it up and heard a slight pop. Didn't think much of it, but when I put the car away I saw a drip. I thought it might be the plug wasn't tight enough so I reached under the car, inserted the wrench, gave it a little bit of effort and the plug basically came apart, and oil started leaking. Got the oil change pan under the car to capture all the oil which will leak out overnite. Now I'm stuck, need to wait for the local Indy or Dealer to open tomorrow morning and hope they have a new plug, buy 9 more quarts of oil and try it without over tightening the plug. I can't believe these things are so flimsy. Has anyone else had this problem ? It really didn't seem like I gave it much effort when I tightened it.
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boschdienst (04-22-2022)
06-17-2018, 08:03 PM
#3
Three Wheelin'
18-19ft lbs of torque isn't much at all, would be very easy to over do it without a torque wrench. Hopefully all you need is a new drain plug, washer, and oil.
06-17-2018, 08:05 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Better check the threads in the sump plate too before adding the oil, easily stripped!
06-17-2018, 09:18 PM
#6
Rennlist Member
Thirteen years is a long time to go between oil changes. Seriously though, did you use a new crush washer on the drain plug when you reinstalled it? Hopefully the pan isn't stripped.
06-17-2018, 09:21 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
One thing I learned from rebuilding my engine and getting my roller back on the road is that all torques specified in aluminum threads are much less than what I would a have expected. Sometimes I wonder why vibration doesn’t cause the engine to disassemble itself!
Hope your repair is a simple one.
Hope your repair is a simple one.
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06-17-2018, 10:32 PM
#8
So after owning the car for 13 years I finally decided to change the oil myself on a nice sunny warm Sunday afternoon. Other than a few extra drips and splashes from the old oil draining, everything went fine, or so I thought. New filter element, O Ring, 9 quarts of oil, etc... While re tightening the magnetic drain plug I snugged it up and heard a slight pop. Didn't think much of it, but when I put the car away I saw a drip. I thought it might be the plug wasn't tight enough so I reached under the car, inserted the wrench, gave it a little bit of effort and the plug basically came apart, and oil started leaking. Got the oil change pan under the car to capture all the oil which will leak out overnite. Now I'm stuck, need to wait for the local Indy or Dealer to open tomorrow morning and hope they have a new plug, buy 9 more quarts of oil and try it without over tightening the plug. I can't believe these things are so flimsy. Has anyone else had this problem ? It really didn't seem like I gave it much effort when I tightened it.
06-17-2018, 11:11 PM
#9
Drain plugs are made to be flimsy so they stripe instead of your oil pan or in case of a true dry sump engine (not a 996 Carrera), your aluminum engine block.
Plugs barely need to be tighten to be effective. Use a short wrench to avoid over torquing.
this isn’t so bad. Plugs are easy to get and your oil just flushed the engine.
Plugs barely need to be tighten to be effective. Use a short wrench to avoid over torquing.
this isn’t so bad. Plugs are easy to get and your oil just flushed the engine.
06-18-2018, 11:27 AM
#10
How old was the magnetic drain plug? The original version wasn't as robust as the newer ones. I bought an OEM drain plug to keep as a spare just in case. Cheap insurance.
06-18-2018, 01:32 PM
#12
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I had the exact same thing happen to me. It was an earlier version of the LN Engineering magnetic drain plug. They sent me a replacement and it is much more robust. No more problems.
06-18-2018, 02:13 PM
#13
Pro
Thread Starter
Got a new plug(OEM instead of the magnetic one this time) from my Indy this morning, used a lot less torque to tighten up the plug this time, filled her up with another batch of new oil and everything is good. BTW I cut open my used oil filter and it was clean as a whistle, no metallic particles. Original IMS still installed, although in fairness mine is an early 98 build so it has the dual row which is less prone to failure.
06-18-2018, 02:48 PM
#15
Rennlist Member
Very important to have the correct torque on your new plug! It can vibrate out and off while driving. I had this happen to a brand new delivery truck that we bought and on it's first oil change the mechanics gopher never torqued to spec and we lost the motor 10 miles later.