the bolt to my oil pan has been leaking, I know you are supposed to change out the washers after every oil change but I haven't lately.

could that be the pculprit or is it something more serious.

 

Most likely it's the washer. They are "crush" washers and they are only designed to crush once. You can often flip them around and get a second crush out of them, but it's best to change them out

 

I hope it's your washer. If you keep re-using a crush washer, it'll not longer deform properly to seal AND reduce the chance of damaging the alloy oil pan should you over-tighten the bolt. Hope you'll be changing your oil this weekend. Post up what you find.

 

They are about 5 cents just so you know. Buy one every oil change even if you know you dont need it. I have seen some literaly weld themself to the oil pan bolt and they are a bitch to get off the bolt.

 

The OEM crush washer is about $7.50 at a dealership. Even price online.

 

I don't know where you're shopping, but it should cost about $.22 cents. p/n 94109-14000

 

i hope you didnt do the same thing i did, that you see it leaking and after some time you retighten it just a bit... that small bit will strip the thread on the oil pan and guess what? your gonna have to buy a new oil pan because theses are aluminum pans so retapping it is out of the question..
your best bet is to just go to an autoparts and get one of those rubber plugs there like 3 or 4 dollars and its leak free thats what ive been using for almost a year. its just that everytime you do an oil change you have to buy a new rubber plug.

yea and the washer is not 7 or 8 bucks at most it should be like a quarter lol usually if buy an oem oil filter from them they have the washer tapped on to the filter. i dont know if you use the oem filter.. just my .02 cents

 

Or buy one of these and never worry about this kind of stuff. http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/

I can change my oil without jacking the car up because of this.

 

yea you can use that but i personally wouldnt do that because then your leaving all the metal shavings or very small particles or shaving inside the oil pan and not just that my buddy had pick up one of those quick drain valves and there really dangerous too if you get the luck of hitting a rock and it hits the valve to the open position then good luck lol am not saying thats always going to happen but you know sometimes the weirdest things happen unexpectedly lol at least to me i dont know about you guys...

 

Your oil filter will take care of any particles and you have better odds winning the lotto than having a rock open the valve. If you want extra security use a hose clamp on the valve like the manufacturer recommends for use on farm equipment.