Rep Power: 811

from the drain bolt. and im not sure what to do. i recently changed the oil a month ago myself and noticed it was leaking a lil on the bottom of the pan, so i put a new crush washer and tightened it good. now its leaking alot more and theres oil on the exhaust thats making a nice smell. would a new drain bolt fix it? i dont wanna tighten it anymore and break the bolt. whats the torque spec anyway, i remember something like 30 ft/lbs?

 
Rep Power: 0

I see that problem all the time at my work (Jiffylube).

If it's leaking and you already torqued it to specs, then most likely either the bolt is stripped or the oil pan drain hole has been threaded through.

Replace the drain plug and drain plug gasket (obviously with a Honda drain plug). Torque it down to 28/30 ft/lbs. If that doesn't fix the problem, then your oil pan drain hole has been threaded. In this case, you get a pansaver drain plug.

 
Rep Power: 811

tell me more, the guy at honda where i got a new drain plug says he uses teflon tape around it but im not sure it would work. i have a new bolt now and washer but my car is on the street, and cant pull into driveway of house. scraped the exhaust up really bad the first time trying. maybe ill drive to a parking lot somewhere with my tools. so what is this pansaver plug you speak of? lol hopefully it means i dont have to take the oil pan off.

 
Rep Power: 0

Teflon tape? Only masks the problem. Kinda like putting teflon tape around a leaky head gasket, doesn't do a thing.

The pansaver drain plug is like a universal drain plug. There are many looks for it but in the end, the name says it all - saves your pan. The one my shop uses is a winged drain plug, where the wings open up once you insert it inside the oil pan and begin to turn it to lock the drain hole. It works as a temporary solution if your bolt or oil pan has been threaded.



But with a new drain plug, you'll be able to determine if the oil pan has the problem. Though I'm sure if you've done your oil changes right and torqued them down properly, it's the drain plug that needs replacing. Those things eventually wear out from all the coming-off and putting-back-on through all the oil changes.

 
Rep Power: 236

I don't understand why you say Teflon tape would only mask a problem with leaky threads? Your drain plug and crush washer properly torqued shouldn't leak. In my opinion though, if you had a plug with minor flaws in the threads and you wrapped the plug in a little Teflon tape, and that fixed your oil leakage issue you would be golden. Better than buying a new plug and/or oil pan...

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah, try replacing the drain plug itself (it''s like $2) as well Gear. Teflon tape won't hurt it at all. Hell, I've used RTV on drain plug threads before and never had a problem.

The problem with the pansaver plug is that it's messy when you change the oil, and in order to remove it for good, you have to drop the oil pan because of that butterfly clip.

I have seen the pan crack around the drain plug on my buddy's Y8 aluminum pan. I pulled the pan, JB welded the crack, let it cure for 2 days and he's been running leak free for two years now.

My vote is a new drain plug and teflon tape. If that doesn't work, you've cracked the pan and will either need to replace it with a different one, or do the JB Weld if you can spare the downtime.

 
Rep Power: 0

Hopefully he hasn't cracked the oil pan. The only instances that I've seen when an oil pan has been cracked was when a technician at my shop torqued the drain plug too hard while it was hot and thus caused it to crack.

The winged drain plug doesn't require the oil pan to be taken out. Because it tilts from side to side, the way you got the drain plug in is the way you get the drain plug out. But it does get extremely messy. It's only a temporary solution, and is recommended to be used for a maximum of 3 oil changes.

Teflon tape masks the problem because once you do another oil change, the drain plug becomes extremely difficult to take off, and because you have to force the drain plug in, and then force it out, you risk damaging your oil pan. If you change the drain plug itself and you find there's still a leak, then you can isolate the problem to it being a cracked oil pan or a threaded drain hole.

In both those cases the oil pan is coming off for inspection.

 
Rep Power: 236

I get your point, but what I'm saying is try Teflon tape. If it doesn't solve the problem then you know you have a more serious issue than just minor thread bungling. The problem with just trying a new plug is what if the pan threads are still a little flawed then it still leaks and you're back at square one. 1 and 1/2 wrap of tape is all it takes and you shouldn't have to force anything in or out. This way you at least have a shot at isolating the issue without dropping the pan.

 
Rep Power: 811

i blame all the shops i took it to for oil change before now. they did it when the motor was hot, and who knows if they torqued it past 30 ft/lbs. most mechanics these days are retards im starting to find out.

 
Rep Power: 313

call em^

 
Rep Power: 811

yeah haha i bet they dont even know what torque means. everytime i get my car back i have to retorque all the wheel lugs and reset the tire pressure. they adjust the tire pressure too! when i just drove there and tires are hot! lmao!

 
Rep Power: 0

Lol Yeah, not gonna lie. 3/4's of the people (at least Jiffylube staff) that get trained here don't know **** about cars. They yell out calls like, "Oil pan drain plug has been torqued to manufacturer's specifications" but half the time, they don't even say it right, 90% of the time, don't torque it properly and 99% of the time, don't even know what those specs are! We're not called mechanics, we're called lube technicians, lol.

And you don't have to worry about the oil change being done when it is hot. What you need to worry about is if the oil change was done in improper manner, i.e. torquing it too much/too little, popping in the wrong drain plug, hammering the drain plug to help it come out (don't worry, never done that but I'm just saying).

But yeah, if you brought it to other quick lube shops, they most likely put in a crappy drain plug. I can most likely tell you right now that if it is a quick lube shop, they wanna do it in a hurry, and as a result, a worn-out drain plug will not be inspected and put back in.

From a guy who works in the quick lube industry, a simple piece of advice is do NOT go to ANY quick lube shops.

 
Rep Power: 811

i actually took it to one of the best shop in town, with award all over the wall and paid $20 for LABOR ONLY, i brought the oil and filter. yeah and they still mess up and i always get it back with too much oil. pissed me off so now its diy. and its really easy not to overfill it. i think the people working there had no common sense. they read the specs and fill in 3.7 qt, even if only 3.2 qt is required. if i tell them to drain some out cause its overfilled, they say nah it wont hurt its better to have extra in there. im like okay lmao.

anyway, i came up with a great plan to put the car in the garage. i found an old blanket and put it over the big hump, so now the exhaust pipe just scraped the blanket lol. and it didnt burn either i was quick. so in an hour or so i will try the new drain plug and washer to see if it helps. its okay to use a jack on smooth concrete floor i hope?

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah, you should be fine. That concrete is the base for your house, so I don't think it will create holes.

D17A1 takes 3.2 qt. of oil. D17A2 takes 3.7 qt. They won't drain it out for you because simply put, they're lazy. They should already know that too much oil disturbs the oil pressure and thus can cause the oil pan gasket to leak.

I don't think it's the sense that those people have no common sense. It's just they are not mechanically inclined. But still, every time I see these errors at my shop, I begin to have a greater understanding as to why people look down at these lube shops, lol.

Anyway, hopefully it's just the drain plug that's causing the problem!

 
Rep Power: 0

dude, please, dont use teflon tape... 1. get a new drain plug 2. rethread the pan if possible. 3. make sure and use a crush washer every oil change... honda oil filters usually have em taped to it.


hey steve, hit me up tomorrow, i have a rethread kit i can bring up tomorrow if ur free.... im coming to urbana to meet my sister in law anyway...

 
Rep Power: 811

um im in nevada already lol. and im not using teflon, just putting new bolt and washer, then see if it still leaks.

 
Rep Power: 811

so i changed the bolt and washer, the old one looked fine and the new one threaded properly, then when i get it tightened, i look up some more and see oil all over the side of the pan coming from the pan seal. great... and theres oil all over the side of the trans too lmao

 
Rep Power: 811

got the car back, they confirmed the rear main seal (trans) is leaking and thats causing trans fluid to spill everywhere. i guess its slow enough that i never noticed it and the fluid was always full.

the oil pan seal so far stayed dry on the way over, but prolly cause i cleaned it all up yesterday. lets see if it comes back.

 
Rep Power: 0

Well, I guess that's better news than leaking oil. Wonder what could've caused that...

 
Rep Power: 475

d17a1 takes 3.4 quarts and the a2 takes 3.7 quarts, taken directly from honda since i work there

Capacity

D17A2, D17A6 engines
Engine overhaul
4.2 L (4.4 US qt)

Oil change, including filter
3.5 L (3.7 US qt)

Oil change, without filter
3.3 L (3.5 US qt)

Capacity

D17A1 engine
Engine overhaul
4.2 L (4.4 US qt)

Oil change, including filter
3.2 L (3.4 US qt)

Oil change, without filter
3.0 L (3.2 US qt)

 
Rep Power: 811

my ex only took 3.2 qt last time and its at the full line. you dont always go by the numbers, obviously some oil stays inside and on the gears. same for trans fluid drain and refill. the stupid shops always overfill it alot cause i bet they dont think and just put what the book says. being a mechanic requires thinking, unfortunately. thats why i do as much as i can cause i know its done properly. when i got my car back again, i could not loosen the lugs with a big breaker bar, i had to use another pipe on the end and thought for sure it was gonna break the stud. but i got lucky and they all loosened so i could do 80 ft/lbs. i think they did it to 160 at least.

anyway no its not good news, to replace the main seal is $600. Oil pan gasket i can diy for sure when i get a chance. oil leak came back too...

 
Rep Power: 0

Damn man. That rear main seal is all labor too. The actual part is $10. If you could pull the tranny and your torque converter, it's right there, and it's little housing is held on by four 6mm bolts. Sucks man. If I was in Nevada, a case of beer and some help is all I would charge.