98 accord needs oil pan

I have an '82 and '83 Honda Civic and both as far as I can tell have
original oil pans with the correct plug. Oil pan drain plug problems
are not limited to Hondas if my experience counts for anything over the
past forty years...

JT

 

I guess it depends on the model.

I had the same concern when I had one installed in my 98 Civic (because
of negligent service at oil changing places). That is, until you notice
that the plug is behind the pan and that the valve comes at an angle.
Its end is still above the pan bottom, to tear it apart you have to rip
open the pan first.

Serban

 

Maybe they did not put in a new aluminum washer and tried to reuse the
old one. This guarantees that they'll have to overtighten it to get
that snug feeling. Cross-threading is probably less an occurence than
careless and cut-the-corners service.

Serban

 

Makes me wonder if Tegger has ever been under his Integra to change his
oil. (I doubt his VTEC is any different than mine in that respect.)


;-)

 

According to my stats, I've changed my oil myself approximately 95 times
since the warranty ran out in 1994.

(Interesting. In 1994 I paid $7.11 for a gallon of Castrol GTX at K-Mart.
The same stuff is up over $20 in 2006. Wow!)

The drain bolt is barely hidden by the oil pan, maybe 1/4" up from the
lowest point.

From a quick look at the link that was provided of that spigot-thingy, I
couldn't see how it would go on without sticking down below the oil
pan's bottom. If I was wrong, I was wrong. I still won't use those
things.

And I don't have VTEC!

 

Gotta buy some of that oil stock with the money you save by
doing so much car maintenance yourself. I finally had it
with gas prices and surrendered in September ago, purchasing
my first oil company position. ;-)

 

imo, the only thing wrong with the honda plug is that it's got a big
bolt head in a nice accessible position where a knuckle-dragger can go
nuts on it with a long wrench. if they had a 3/8" square socket like
the auto transmissions, i don't think we'd ever see this problem.

 

"good service" means never getting to this stage. they should have at
least offered to compromise - if they didn't eat the cost entirely.
it's not worth losing a customer over a $130 part.

 

Except oil prices are going down now...

 

Historically, oil stock price growth and stock dividend
growth have beat inflation by a lot. This of course is
consistent with your observation above on the Castrol oil.

 

Yeah but... It's curious on how some oil related stuff never goes down.
Products like propane, motor oil etc simply become a cash cow to big oil.

Gas prices OTOH are an everyday encounter so smart business requires
attention by producers to maintain (what they think) the market will bear.

JT

(Grumpier than normal today..)

 

Mite hit a score spot but wallmart sell a five quart container for
under ten bucks GTX

 

Just posting a follow-up. Three days after calling American Honda to file a
case, The service manager from the dealer called...(NOT the one who offered
me 10% off.) He had heard from my case manager and very politely asked what
he could to rectify the situation. I said "replace my oil pan". Without a
pause he said "OK, when do you want to bring it in?"
NO cost me me. I would have expected nothing less from Honda.
Thanks for all of your input on this matter.
Matthew

NOW the question remains...can I feel comportable continuing to bring it to
them for fear of doing it again???
From now on I will have them put in MY service notes: "Be sure to place new
drain plug, new washer and hand torque to factory specs" !!

 

IMO one's best bet is to change the oil one's self. If you
absolutely cannot do this, then buy the washers yourself at
the dealer or an online parts site like www.slhonda.com
(maybe with a bunch of OEM oil filters, too, to make the
shipping economical). Then wherever you take the car for an
oil change, pointedly have the shop promise to use the new
washer and not to overtorque the drain plug. Tell them what
happened before.

I cannot say for sure, but based on reading reports here, I
think the stripping could very well be normal wear and tear.
Honda may have done you a huge favor by arranging to have
the oil pan changed at no charge. Problem is, one cannot say
for sure.

 

That sounds like you want them to replace the *drain plug* every time they
change your oil.It's not the cause of the overtorquing or crossthreading.

Perhaps you meant "place NEW washer on drain plug and torque to factory
specs by hand".?

 

$300. bucks on my '88 about 10 years ago. In RI. Jiffy Lube Asassins!

My advice? Weld it up and go to those places that suck the oil out the top.
Amazing how they so much so right, then they screw up the oil pan design. I now
carry an expandable rubber plug in each Honda, just in case....

Norman