Oil drain plug fell out during date night :(

I was on the way home from dinner with my lady and I hear my tundra start making a weird noise. It was l a throttle sensitive knocking noise that didn’t alarm me much at first. Immediatley I thought it was the transmission. Only way I could describe it as, is a diesel compression knock that only happened when engine load was crusing. when load was heavier or lighter than crusing no noise was present. I promptly pulled over and looked under it to find some fluid all over the bottom which I discovered to be engine oil upon further investigation. Thought I’d blown an oil cooler line or some sort of oil feed. Looked closer and the damn bolts gone!! Promptly cut the motor and called a buddy and took the lady home. Replaced the bolt, filled it back up with oil and a quarter bottle of Lucas oil stabilizer. To aid with any sort of recovery I can get. Pulled all the coil plugs and cranked it for a few seconds to oil back in it. Plugged the coils back in and it ran like a top. No noise whatsoever. Walking the oil trail it seems I’d only gone about 2 city blocks without oil (45 seconds to a minute maybe) Got it put away now and in one piece, thankfully. Is there anything I should check for or do to help keep it alive as this truck is quite nice and I’d hate to see it go this way.

 

You can cut open the oil filter on your next oil chance and inspect it for debris, that will give you a good indication of any bearing damage. Most likely it's okay, just a lil more wear a lil quicker than expected.

 

I’ve just order a couple oil analysis kits from black stone labs. Oil hadnt been done in a few months (dosent get many miles on it) and there were never any spots on the drive way so my question is how could the drain bolt just now decide to walk out? Under the impression that it was the transmission I was dogging it for that block trying to feel some slippage. After getting oil in it though it has really healthy oil pressure and somehow makes now noise. That knock really scared the hell out of me though. Also isn’t there an oil light that’s supposed to flick on upon the instance of low-no oil pressure?

 

Isn’t that what the oil pressure gauge is for. Might want to put that in your instrument crosscheck. Also wonder who did your last oil change?

 

Only a 2 block oil trail? Though never good, i think i’d just pretend that it never happened and went on with my life WITH the same truck without worries.

 

I mean aren’t all the pre-VVTi models all notorious for showing absurdly low oil pressure? It’s one thing I’ve never understood, why Toyota lets the needle sit so close to low (like needle raised 5-10%) at “normal” pressure. I love the 2005-2006 because ALL the gauges sit near center mast when everything is A-OK.

 

Yeah, it's low enough you wouldn't notice it at 0 without directly looking at it.

I 2nd bfunke. Who did your last oil change?

 

Seems like most vehicles have this and it seems like they had planned on putting it in the tundras because some of the 2000 year clusters have the graphic and bulb socket there but no bulb or wiring to support the light.

 

Old school under stressed motor. Might only go 300k miles now though...

Did you by chance at least dump some oil dry to soak up the 6 or so quarts of oil on the street? Hitting an oil slick on a motorcycle really really sucks...

 

Hate that happened to you OP, but can't wrap my head around how an oil drain plug just falls out.

 

It doesn't. Someone either removes or loosens it intentionally for you, or you have a senior moment and forget to torque it down after install, or you fail to reinstall the drain plug gasket and/or the drain plug gasket gets worn from never being replaced and contributes to the fastener backing out, or similar.

tl;dr - it was human-induced, in some way/shape/form.

 

I had a friend change his oil at my place years back - he was drinking beer. Forgot to put the oil in and started it for about 1 minute till he realized his mistake - he figured he added about 50K miles during that minute - yet car drove fine for years.

 

I've seen videos online where they run the engines on chocolate milk. They last waaaaaay longer than you think they would. I doubt much damage was done at low load with the oil being so recently drained away. The oil coats and films and lasts longer than we think it would.

 

I am surprised there was any oil left after 2 blocks. After I performed my first oil change I installed the oring on the wrong lip of the filter housing. Started it up and backed out of the garage and there was oil EVERYWHERE. Felt like the entire contents spilled out and tools days to clean up!!!! The truck was probably only on for 20 seconds or so…..Under load / pressure for two blocks seems like there wouldn’t be any oil left especially with the plug completely out and not just loose

 

Woah! This is unfortunate, but glad you noticed and caught it.

 

Last summer I changed the oil in my 1974 Fiat, and didn't realize the O-ring from the old oil filter was still stuck onto the block. This caused the new oil filter to work itself loose after 500 miles- and dump the oil out while I was driving it.

That engine holds an absurd amount of oil (6.5 quarts) but I was driving with oil pouring out for more than a mile. Oil pressure light didn't turn on until I was stopped at a red light and the engine was idling. I actually continued to drive it a couple blocks because the light went off once the engine revved up. I filled it back up with oil, and tightened the filter, and it's been perfectly fine. I know this is an apples to oranges comparison as that engine is known for it's stout bottom end, but I beat the shit out of that engine nearly every time I drive the car.

I'd definitely change the oil and filter, but I'm inclined to think that it's fine. Our non-VVTi 4.7s call for barely any oil pressure at idle, and even when mine is revved up, the needle never really climbs the gauge very far.

 

It was a small trail that went about 2-3 blocks not a puddle and the roads were were wet. Buddy that saved me said well now it’s only got 800k miles left to go

 

The lady said at first I was overreacting to such a small noise but rather glad I overreacted

 

The oil pressure was at complete zero and that’s why I cut it off. There was absolutely no oil in it for a good minute. It was starting to have a worrying bottom end knock. I put the oil stabilizer in there to help take up whatever bearing tolerances I increased.

 

they underestimate how in tune we are with our trucks!

 

So my first thought when I read the title was "Dayumm, date night is gettin' all kinds of freaky!"

Then I realized you were talking about the Tundra and it was just an actual oil drain plug. (I know, it's a scary place inside my head)

Carry on.

 

unfortunately I was the dunce to do my oil last but it has been 2-3 months since I toutched it last. if I hadn't tightened it I'd have figured it would have left a spot on the driveway. might have pissed the neighbors off working in the garage late at night

 

A worn out drain plug gasket was what made the drain plug really loose on my scion xB. Late last summer there were some drippy-drips where i parked overnight so i investigated a bit closer. Turned out my plug was loose. I tightened it up, but a couple days later i kept getting drips. I tightened it back up again and immediately it felt like the whole gasket collapsed. I ordered up a 5 pack of gaskets for it. Turns out it’s the same part number for my tundra as well.

 

Every motorists worst nightmare, huh?

 

Did some thinking and realized that I'd never replaced the drain bolt gasket before. I knew you were supposed to replace them but I had no idea that they kept the bolt from backing out. who'da thunk

 

Id love to pull the pan and take the rod caps off to see what kind of damage is done but quite frankly I don't have that kind of time or will to do it in the first place.

 

$11 Genuine Toyota - Oil Drain Plug Gaskets (QTY10)

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-Drain-Gaskets-90430-12031/dp/B007OW6MD6

I've purchased this pack of drain plug gaskets from this seller on Amazon and from the dealership. They were identical. Can't remember how much more expensive it was at the stealer.

 

I'll go ahead and get that so don't have to think about it when I'm changing the oil next.

 

I swap in a new one every 2nd/3rd oil change. It’s not a crush washer so no need to change every oil change.

 

I miss when they were still made out of copper and if you were being cheap you could just take a torch to the crush washer and reanneal the crush washer. I'm also used to dealing with old sports bike engines that run really high oil pressures and will grenade pretty damn fast if you don't have any oil in the pan, so I always use new washers. They're cheap insurance, and people, always make sure you don't double up your oil filter o-rings.