Oil Drain Plug "Improvement"

[LilRichard]

So I changed the oil for the first time on my '11 F250, and I was not enamored with the new drain plug. Is it easy to tell you have it secure? Yes. Does it make me feel secure? No. It's like a damned Dzus body fastener.

So I decided to employ some of my shade tree skills learned in the pits... and safety wired her up. Didn't know if anyone else has done this (couldn't find one) but it took me 10 minutes (yeah, ugly wire job) and I feel much better:



I drilled a small hole in the flange around the pan bolt hole, and used stainless steel wire (found in JC Whitney, at Harbor Freight, etc.) to wire it up. Wire passes through the flange on the plug and is then wired to the pan.

KEY: REMEMBER the wire has to be PULLING the plug tighter, not vice versa.

[late_99_PSD]

Your concerned that it might back off? Is it a threaded plug or some sort of clip system?

[richc22a]

60,000 miles, highway, in town, primitive roads and mine has fell out... never...

....I did take some baling wire and wire my bumper to the frame though, it looked like it could become dislodged...

[LilRichard]

Originally Posted by late_99_PSD

Your concerned that it might back off? Is it a threaded plug or some sort of clip system?

It's a quarter turn release... 120 degrees to be exact. And it's plastic... woohoo!

And yeah, it most likely would have never backed out, but I wire my drain, fill and filter on my bike so I don't dump oil at 140mph... along with caliper bolts, etc. So why not spend 10 minutes on my $40k+ diesel truck?

[late_99_PSD]

Gotcha

They do say better safe then sorry

[CatterlinRanch]

Is that a plastic oil pan?

[LilRichard]

Originally Posted by CatterlinRanch

Is that a plastic oil pan?

Affirmative. I'm thrilled with that too.

[late_99_PSD]

Are you sure? I was 95% sure they were some sort of composite.

[LilRichard]

Yes, I agree it's a composite: polymer composite = plastic.

[late_99_PSD]

Thats a fair assessment