How tight do you guys tighten your oil pan drain plugs? I'm asking b/c jiffy lube stripped the plug on my last car, a '93 Del Sol... those assclowns probably used an impact wrench...

Anyways... I don't want to repeat this on my S. I will be hand tightening... Is it possible to strip it this way as well?

 

many on the board use this (myself included)

http://fumotovalve.com/

problem solved.

 

Buy a torque wrench.

 

how many lbs of torque?

 

29 ft/lbs.

 

Because of the thin walls of the oil pan, there really isn't much thread there. Granted, although the place where the plug goes has an insert of a different material (supposedly stronger), a few of us here consider 29 ft/lbs to be unnecessary (although safe). There is not a lot of stress on an oil pan plug bolt, so really, all you need is enough tightness to keep it from vibrating loose. Besides, the crush ring also gives a bit of resistance to help hold the bolt in place.

 

33 ft/lbs as per the manual

 

^ There is a discrepency between the owner's manual and the Helm service manual. This has been noted before. In either case, it is still a bit too much. I do all my drain bolt tightenings by "feel" now. This has been shown to be "about" 25#s.

 

That's interesting that you think the specified torque is overkill. I've thought the same thing. Think I'll keep it under 25 next time.

Sol, you definitely don't wanna strip this pan. I'm not sure what you can do other than replace the pan (aluminum is pretty rigid). The biggest mistake I've seen with Hondas over the years has just been when people forget to use the crush washer. Usually, that's obvious right away.

Keep the S away from Jiffy Lube (just my opinion). Besides risking over-torque, good luck ever getting one of their oil filters off -- talk about overkill!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
^ There is a discrepency between the owner's manual and the Helm service manual.