Anyone ever re-use their washer for oil drain plug?
#17
Burning Brakes
Here are the numbers for my 2004 S (and no guarantees about any others), from my notes, which were made based on the service manual, and after actually doing an oil change:
TWO drain plugs (both need to come out) - 50 Nm, new washers, 8mm Allen. Be sure to press/tap/hammer Allen socket all the way in deep before torquing, otherwise it will mar the soft Aluminum plugs.
tool 9204 to remove oil filter housing. 74 mm, 14 flutes
new filter and o-ring on filter housing
housing torque to 25 Nm
2x 900-123-106-30 oil drain plug washer 18 x 24 x 1.5mm (and that's ID, OD, thickness; and it's Aluminum)
So on the torque, 50 Nm (~37 ft-lb) is for the plugs. Half that (19 ft-lbs) for the oil filter housing.
One finer point on the torquing, especially since we're talking about crush washers ... when you wrench a lot, you develop a feel for when yield is starting / about to start. That's how some experienced mechanics can do a pretty good job torquing things just based on feel. So the complication here is that the crush washer is designed to crush (yield). So when you're torquing it down, expecting it to feel a certain way, it will not, it will feel like it's yielding, setting off alarm bells in your head. But the threads are not stripping, it's just the washer crushing. Use the force, Luke, err torque wrench, and forget about feel on this one. Trust the torque wrench when using a new crush washer (work hardening after the first use means this is less of an issue if reusing, but nobody does that, I hear).
Also, as mentioned above in my notes there, tapping the 8mm Allen to fully seat it into the drain plug is essential. When I did my first oil change on this car, I noticed those 8mm seats were a little marred due to previously being torqued without the 8mm Allen being fully seated. I noticed this when undoing one of them. I had just pushed it in until it stopped, which I later found was about half way. I thought it was all the way in, but when starting to loosen it, I felt it (the plug at the Allen interface) starting to yield, so luckily stopped to figure things out before any damage occurred.
And I extracted the pages with torque values, etc. from the service manual, in case you want it straight from the source:
TWO drain plugs (both need to come out) - 50 Nm, new washers, 8mm Allen. Be sure to press/tap/hammer Allen socket all the way in deep before torquing, otherwise it will mar the soft Aluminum plugs.
tool 9204 to remove oil filter housing. 74 mm, 14 flutes
new filter and o-ring on filter housing
housing torque to 25 Nm
2x 900-123-106-30 oil drain plug washer 18 x 24 x 1.5mm (and that's ID, OD, thickness; and it's Aluminum)
So on the torque, 50 Nm (~37 ft-lb) is for the plugs. Half that (19 ft-lbs) for the oil filter housing.
One finer point on the torquing, especially since we're talking about crush washers ... when you wrench a lot, you develop a feel for when yield is starting / about to start. That's how some experienced mechanics can do a pretty good job torquing things just based on feel. So the complication here is that the crush washer is designed to crush (yield). So when you're torquing it down, expecting it to feel a certain way, it will not, it will feel like it's yielding, setting off alarm bells in your head. But the threads are not stripping, it's just the washer crushing. Use the force, Luke, err torque wrench, and forget about feel on this one. Trust the torque wrench when using a new crush washer (work hardening after the first use means this is less of an issue if reusing, but nobody does that, I hear).
Also, as mentioned above in my notes there, tapping the 8mm Allen to fully seat it into the drain plug is essential. When I did my first oil change on this car, I noticed those 8mm seats were a little marred due to previously being torqued without the 8mm Allen being fully seated. I noticed this when undoing one of them. I had just pushed it in until it stopped, which I later found was about half way. I thought it was all the way in, but when starting to loosen it, I felt it (the plug at the Allen interface) starting to yield, so luckily stopped to figure things out before any damage occurred.
And I extracted the pages with torque values, etc. from the service manual, in case you want it straight from the source:
Last edited by oldskewel; 11-19-2018 at 06:15 PM.
#18
Burning Brakes
PN: 900-123-106-30
Great seller, made in germany by Elring GMBH, highly recommend.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/252967771787#rwid
Great seller, made in germany by Elring GMBH, highly recommend.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/252967771787#rwid
#19
Rennlist Member
PN: 900-123-106-30
Great seller, made in germany by Elring GMBH, highly recommend.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/252967771787#rwid
Great seller, made in germany by Elring GMBH, highly recommend.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/252967771787#rwid
no I’m not affiliated, just trying to spread info about what I think to be a no-duh supplier choice for these maintenance items.