oil plug w/ drain?

[live4DAwAgonZ]

i went to oreily's and i seen this oil pan plug that has a drain knob on, so you can drain it.
Has anyone else seen or used it i gotta do an oil change soon and i kinda need some feedback.

[tuneit]

I've seen them before but, never used one. The way it see it is something still has to be loosened with either plug so, it won't save much time. Also, it could fail, if something hits it from underneath. It just add one more spot for a potential leak. In my opinion, I'd stick with the stock oil plug.

[live4DAwAgonZ]

ok thanks. also i always heard to be careful with new anything because it can always be a risk

[Back2Honda]

Fram used to have something similar which I used for awhile. The only thing is I felt that I wasn't able to get every last bit oil or any possible debris. So I would say just use the plain old drain plug.

[old honda tek]

THE PROBLEM with the honda oilpan is people overtighten the drain plug and it ruins the threads in the pan everytime i do a oilchange on a customers car or my cb7 is i replace the sealing washer there not expensive and that way yu dont overtighten the bolt and i always use a honda filter because it has a drain back valve which prevents the filter from loosing all the oil when he car sits......

[batever]

i went to oreily's and i seen this oil pan plug that has a drain knob on, so you can drain it.
Has anyone else seen or used it i gotta do an oil change soon and i kinda need some feedback.

I haven't used that one, but I use a Fram SureDrain which is similar. I recommend it.

What's good about it is 1) no chance of stripping your drain pan bolt opening because once it's installed you don't remove it ever again

2) At least with the Sure Drain by Fram how it works is you screw on a hose and adapter to it and the oil drains out through a hose into whatever container you want. No splashing.

Of course when you remove the oil filter it's gonna drip and splash, but at least for the oil drain itself there is no splashing or dripping.

I've had mine in for like 5 years, total.

I wouldn't recommend it on a lowered vehicle without careful consideration though because it juts down slightly below the oil pan, like maybe half an inch.

[batever]

Fram used to have something similar which I used for awhile. The only thing is I felt that I wasn't able to get every last bit oil or any possible debris. So I would say just use the plain old drain plug.

If you've ever taken the oil pan on this car off and looked at the inside of it, you'd see that whatever debris might be in the bottom of the pan is largely going to stay in the pan because of how the oil has to flow out of the hole. There is a triangular welded reinforcement around the oil pan hole and it sticks out from the side of the pan, so there is like a 1/4 to 1/2 inch gap beween the bottom of the drain hole profile and the pan itself. Plenty of space for debris to rest in and get caught or obstructed by the reinforcement if there were debris or sediment in the pan. So that concern (that the oil won't "flush" debris out of the pan) is I think actually overblown, because I doubt that the oil flow from a normalo oil change would really flush the bottom of the pan anyways.

FYI my car is 18 years old (oops, forgot everybody's car here is 18 years old! Forgot what forum I was on for a second there!) and when I took the pan out there was NOTHING in there except some oil. No debris, no sediment. I think if there was sediment, a normal oil drain might remove some of it, but not most of it. That's my personal take from disassembling that part of the car and examining it closely.

now I will say this: if you run the engine till it's hot, then IMMEDIATELY go drain the oil while the oil has been freshly pumped through the engine and any sediment is still supsended in it, the standard method might do a better job of removing any sediment that is still in suspension in the oil becuase the oil flow is faster than it would be with a Sure-Drain or other center drain, giving less chance for sediment to settle down to the bottom of the pan.

But really unless your oil filter is F-d up, there won't be sediment because it will all be in the filter membranes. The only other concern would be heavy particles like metal particles that have settled to the bottom of the pan or which have just been freshly deposited in the oil since it was last cycled through the filter, and I don't think those would flush out anyways, based on the geometry of the pan and drain hole placement in it.

those are my thoughts.

Overall, to me the convenience of the center drain has limited drawbacks yet greatly increases convenience of draining/changing the oil.

if anyone wants to straighten me out I always welcome being educated.

[batever]

I've seen them before but, never used one. The way it see it is something still has to be loosened with either plug so, it won't save much time. Also, it could fail, if something hits it from underneath. It just add one more spot for a potential leak. In my opinion, I'd stick with the stock oil plug.

1) no, nothing has to be loosened with the plug but with the valve style someone might open the valve on you which would truly suck. Ask yourself how many people are that much of a jerk. are really really mad at you and vindictive, and also know enogh about cars to start examining your drain plug.

IMHO it would be easier and more likely that such a person would just drive a punch through the drain pan with a hammer and drain it that way, or just reach in with a wrench to the drain bolt.

with the fram style, it is not easy to drain the oil without the correct drain fitting, the valve is not exposed to the outside, and there's no danger of the valve opening by accident. The Fumoto style has a lever that you open the valve with and I'd say there's some danger of accidental draining but really--extremely extremely unlikely that debris would hit it and totally open the valve.

As to the danger of it getting struck, at least with the Fram Sure-Drain, I have had mine on 5 years and never had a problem. In the winter I have to "coast" through snow piles that are left by plow trucks at the edges of main roads (to get into the main road or off of it) and that impact against the snow and ice has never caused a problem for me. maybe it is somewhat protected because of the front cross member knocking the snow bank down as it goes over/through the snow bank. I'm not really sure but I've never had a problem.

I agree that the normal drain plug bolt is a LOT more secure and protected but am just saying that I've never had that problem with my Sure-Drain.

[Back2Honda]

Batever you make a great point and do make me want to consider using it again. I did like it before because I didn't need to go get a washer each time.

[live4DAwAgonZ]

interesting! excellent feedback i will consider my option for sure

[tuneit]

1) no, nothing has to be loosened with the plug but with the valve style someone might open the valve on you which would truly suck. Ask yourself how many people are that much of a jerk. are really really mad at you and vindictive, and also know enogh about cars to start examining your drain plug.

IMHO it would be easier and more likely that such a person would just drive a punch through the drain pan with a hammer and drain it that way, or just reach in with a wrench to the drain bolt.

with the fram style, it is not easy to drain the oil without the correct drain fitting, the valve is not exposed to the outside, and there's no danger of the valve opening by accident. The Fumoto style has a lever that you open the valve with and I'd say there's some danger of accidental draining but really--extremely extremely unlikely that debris would hit it and totally open the valve.

As to the danger of it getting struck, at least with the Fram Sure-Drain, I have had mine on 5 years and never had a problem. In the winter I have to "coast" through snow piles that are left by plow trucks at the edges of main roads (to get into the main road or off of it) and that impact against the snow and ice has never caused a problem for me. maybe it is somewhat protected because of the front cross member knocking the snow bank down as it goes over/through the snow bank. I'm not really sure but I've never had a problem.

I agree that the normal drain plug bolt is a LOT more secure and protected but am just saying that I've never had that problem with my Sure-Drain.

I see. That design seems to be more safe to use than some of the one's I've seen.