Oil change gone wrong… Drain bolt spun on

I am with you on this, especially after reading this thread. Seems this is not the only DIY project that has led to other issues through no real fault of the DIYer. And yeah I know 99% never have a problem. But my problem is I always make up that 1%!

 

alright alright fine. I will look into this

 

Meh, just get some JB weld and seal it all up. Sorry for your troubles and I know the sinking feeling of having issues with something so new.

 

Too much ugga dugga for brass threads. Final answer.

 

But this one looks like it was cross threaded, over tightened, or the wrong thread pattern. Not a fault with the product necessarily.

 

The OP has just experienced a lot of headache to save a few minutes every 6 months to a year when changing oil.

 

they used the german torque wrench, "gud n tite"

 

Again, not about time. Pretty sure the oil drains faster without the valve, or close to. It's about the lack of mess. This is an unfortunate event for sure, but it's also an extreme case and not the norm. Almost no one has issues with the Fumotos and they are used by TONS of cars and trucks.

 

Either way I have done hundreds of oil changes on my vehicles and never felt like the time or mess was worth risking losing the oil out my engine due to a malfunction of an aftermarket drain valve. To each his own but this here is a bit of a disaster as far as DIY projects go. Thankfully he has some skills or this would have been really expensive at a dealership, to include the tow bill! If I had a fleet of them and I was doing the oil changes a fumoto would definitely make life a bit easier but for something done not that often, the risk just isn’t worth it.

 

Try draining the oil with the RCI plate in place. I had to soak up a cup of oil that drizzled onto it. The Tundra can be a messy oil change especially with the drain bolt angled towards the front tire, ask me how I know.

 

I can understand where you're coming from, but to put the risk in perspective I have some questions. What kind of water heater do you have in your home? Do you have a shut off valve on the inlet pipe? That has the same, or more, risk of malfunction as a fumoto valve. They are extremely simple.

Your level of caution also indicates you would not be cross threading, over tightening, or installing without checking your threads because you would be being super super careful. I'm as capable a car mechanic as a half trained monkey in a diaper (and the diaper is the important part of that equation), and I installed it with no issue. It took a moment or two to get the threads to line up, but it was not difficult.

As far as the OP's situation, it sucks, but accidents happen. The drain bolt can be cross threaded or over tightened for the same result as well, so by doing a one time install of a valve you are eliminating all those future chances of issues with removal and installs. Now, that only counts if you are keeping the truck long term. If you trade of/switch rigs every 2-5 years, maybe not a big deal.

I may be a little biased, because I hate wearing oil.

 

Is the B27 or B28 stamp significant in terms of the correct part? I'm going to install the

$37 F133N with LC-10 F-Series Large Body Fumoto Valve with Long Nipple and LC-10 Lever Clip for M12-1.25, Gold

F133N with B28 stamped and just want to make sure it's the right part.

On another note, Tundra owners need a specific oil funnel/catch setup that goes inboard enough to catch the oil that would drip onto skid, and outboard enough and deep to catch the drain rate and prevent splash on wheel, with adjustable elevation to slide under the pan with just enough room to get your hand in there and undo the drain plug.

I'd buy one and would forego the Fumoto.

 

I completely understand why you use one, and it’s your prerogative, it’s just not something that is a win win on the benefit vs risk scale to me.

Oh and I don’t drag my water heater up and down rough mountain roads or over retread tire blow out slabs in the highway if you know what I mean.

 

^^THIS is exactly what happened ^^

 

sorry to hear the news Mike. I’m just down the hill in Redlands, hope the dealer has your pan.

 

The risk of using the Fumoto valve is only marginally greater than the risk of crossthreading the OEM plug. And the benefit is real, a cleaner oil change saves cleanup time even if the oil change itself is no faster. So the thousands of people who have benefited from the Fumoto have shown the benefit/risk is very good. I don't know exactly what happened with the OP. It sounds like he either crossthreaded it (could have done the same thing with them OEM plug), he overtightened it, or he had the wrong model.

There is absolutely no reason to criticize such a helpful a popular tool just because you don't want to try it. I have it on my vehicles and have seen that it definitely saves time and helps to avoid the mess.

 

Fair enough, but with the skid, that valve is well protected. I even got the one with the long nipple (insert Beavis and Butthead snickering here) and it's got great coverage from the skid. It'd be mildly difficult for me to intentionally damage the valve swinging a hammer, so I'm ok with it's odds vs inanimate objects.

Still, nothing wrong with not using the valve. Perk to having your own truck is that you can build it as you like.

 

I just purchased a ValvoMax to put on mine (insert Beavis and Butthead snickering here)....

 

15ftlb isn't much, I actually bought a little torque wrench at Oreillys for this.

 

Ft Lb is determined by bolt size & bolt head identification, I'm sure the Fumoto guys did their homework when they calculated the required Ft Lbs for the valve in question...I tend to have the attitude of "Tighten any bolt as tight as you can get it" but that way of thinking is definitely not the best for all applications

 

Definitely not for brass. If you don’t have ft. Lbs specs for brass, snug it up and then give it just a little bit more. Kinda like a heavy snug. There is a reason why I love machining 360 brass and it is not for the scrap metal value; well maybe a little.

 

Agree.

 

And it is likely you don't fiddle with your water heater inlet valve 2-3 times a year. I have lived in my bought new house for 14 years. I have turned off that inlet valve exactly once. And a plumber turned if off exactly once.

 

Fumoto valves are an outstanding product and I would never go back. Anyone who has changed oil on the 5.7L engine knows that shit comes out like a rocket. This was simply bad luck for the OP and I feel bad for him.
But, it could easily happen with the standard drain bolt which is coming out and going back in WAY more times than the one time that Fumoto goes in so I’d argue the odds are a lot worse for this scenario with the standard drain bolt.
I was a bit skeptical at first but I did thorough homework and I feel 100 percent confident in the Fumoto performance. I literally have never had an easier oil change. I don’t spill a drop.
Just added one to the Wifes 2020 Highlander. I needed a cheater to get the filter housing off thanks to the dealer dipshits.
Crows feet work great for torquing the Fumoto to spec.

 

Screw a nut on both to check threads. Having a Fumoto valve eliminates the risk of stripping the threads in the pan. This in addition to being cleaner.

 

Yup, we all have options and that’s great. Just to be clear I wasn’t dissing anyone that uses a Fumoto, I was just expressing my view on them while sympathizing for the OP.

 

It might be a standard metric thread but I would not be surprised if it is an odd ball being that it is a drain plug. Your typical nuts and bolts are almost always a standard metric thread. But when you get into things like drain plugs and such, the part becomes custom to the manufacture and the engineers can do what they want.

You are probably right though. I am just a little pessimistic because of what I see from day to day. For example, I have one customer that will design a part with a .235”-28 thread to throw of after market suppliers.

 

Wow didn’t realize I was starting a fomo fight
… haha!

8pm update: taking too much time as I have an obligation to kids and spouse too
New oil pan is installed. Hopeful the liquid gasket sealed well

I’ll concede that this was probably a user error. I installed the fomo with a 10” crescent wrench. I didn’t think I was over tightening it, but that last quarter round to get it aligned was likely the expression of evil demons. Lesson learned.

That said, I’ll still support fomo. Yes it was a headache, but this could just as easily happen with a regular drain bolt. For the ease and cleanliness, I’ll run with fomo.

 

Pretty confident the torque spec is 18ft lbs. I would follow that spec using a crows foot and torque wrench.

 

First, sorry that you had to replace the oil pan. I'm sure it was frustrating.

Second, I am glad to hear that it was likely not a problem with the welds on the original oil pan. It would not be fun if I had to worry about the bung coming loose every time I drained the oil.