CAVU

on a 911, Wouldn't that be hanging down looking for road debris to snag it or worse get nailed by a clearance issue?

911Finally

I believe there are things much lower to the ground than the drain plug

Wayne Smith

I thought about this for Pam's GLA45 (horizontal drain bolt ... the pan shape precludes screwing this in) but on the 997.2 with vertical drain bolt I fear it could get broken off driving over a dead gopher or such.

syzygy333

no way I would use that drain attachment. it would be hanging down, just looking for an opportunity to snag/rip off

Petza914

2 issues with this.
1) I had these on both my 997s and removed them for fear of what Wayne & CAVU mention. They point straight down and are the lowest point on the car, which creates the opportunity to dump about 8 quarts of oil in 10 seconds. It even protrudes below the OEM skid plate.

2) second issue is that the threaded portion of the oil pan has a section of the threads cut away so that more oil can drain from the pan when the plug is removed. Once you thread the Fumoto valve in, it can't get past that so it will always leave 1/2"-3/4" of untrained oil in the pan. I corrected this when installing my deep sump by installing the valve with the pan off, marking the section of the valve threads that lined up with the pan cutout, then using a Dremel to cut that section out of the drain valve, before re-installing everything so I could get more oil out of the pan through the valve.

It sure made oil changes easy, but didn't think it was worth the risk trade-off.

Now if you're not running a deep sump and want to add the LN engineering deep sump skid plate, that would give you a substantial piece of metal under the car, that's lower than the drain valve to protect it, but you'd still need to do the cutaway on the valve for a proper draining.

Here are pics of the LN skid plate installed with my MantisSport deep sump, before I went back to the LN magnetic drain plug.

Wayne Smith

Pete ... I'm guessing you fabricated that skid plate yourself. It looks, if I can steal the term ... sweeet.

Petza914

Actually, it's an LN Engineering offering. Click, buy, and install - super easy and a nice, thick, quality piece, as opposed to the OEM offering, which is too thin, too close to the oil pan, and doesn't really offer any real protection. It's called their deep sump skid plate.

tufenhundel

Thanks for all your replies & assistance. There was no cross threading, or ham fisting anything. I hand tightened the new plug, which went in most of the way, then used the torque wrench. If anything, as it stands, I think the plug is under-tightened. I had suspected the replacement mag plug tolerances may be off, but the original plug also didn't seat properly (without any debris). I think jhbrennan has the plan. When the replacement plugs come in, I'm going to the hardware stores with one to test fit. Glad to see I'm not the only one that ran into this.

lurchphil

This is what I use on my 997.2: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...item236a92436b

Industrial strength and a very strong magnet. Torque to 20 - 25 ft/lbs.

3Series

Any other opinions for a durable drain plug?

I ended up mangling my "new" aluminum drain plug. I was going to fast and forgot to really jam the tool up into the bolt. Luckily my old plug was still fine so I just used that. I'll replace it again in the spring.

mjsporsche

I recently ordered supplies for my next three oil changes.

3 Oil Filters

3 drain plug crush washers

3 drain plugs.

The drain plugs are just too soft and IMHO can only be used once. The drain plugs are cheap enough to replace with a new one every time.

frankyluis23

Been there, done that...

I learned that not all Allen/hex keys are made the same and possibly the drain plug itself is not cut for a perfect fit either. You have to have more than one set of Allen/hex bits so you can use the one that has the least amount of play.

Luckily an easy out kit will quickly distract a damaged drain plug. Be sure to run some oil through the pan to clear out any debris.

Wayne Smith

When my drain plug hex insert rounded I headed for the easy outs. But then I thought ...


Magnetic plugs that I've seen are made from soft aluminum and can round out. But if you drive a ***** punch into them 1/8 inch from the edge and then tilt that punch to about 45 degrees you can then drive them out pretty easily.

Without risk of metal contamination in the oil pan, I removed the plug almost as quickly as I would have if it weren't damaged.

pavster

+10000

The only time I managed to mangle my drain plug was while trying to use Torx instead of Hex bit - not sure why I forgot it was a hex and couldn't really see it. Even after mangling I managed to bang a correct hex bit in there and get the plug off.

mrhebert

If you torque a magnetic plug designed for 19lbs torque to 37lbs torque, you will mangle the head.