Changing drain plug gaskets

[CharBaby]

I am curious about how many of us/you here at Bob's, change the drain plug gasket(any drain plug gasket) every time when changing the fluid.
Be it the OIL, ATF/MTF, TC or DIFF. I know that there are 3 schools of thought on this.
Change or Not or only once in a while/when needed?

I myself have never had to changed the drain plug gasket in over 55 years of doing fluid changed unless the gasket got destroyed in the changing process or due to neglect or over tightening of the drain plug/bolt.
When I worked with my Dad at his gas station in the 1970's, we would change the gasket(any fluid gasket) if it got buggered up over time from neglect, time or road salt, or vehicles that came from other shops.

However, in this 55+ years of my own vehicles, many I've owned for 16, 17, 18 years and several hundred thousand miles, I have never had to change the plug/bolt gasket(s) under normal maintenance(key words...normal maintenance). I just keep using the same'ol plug gasket that can with the vehicle. I did in fact have to change out ONLY 1 drain bolt & gasket due to over tightening/stripping in the 16-18 years of doing OCI's on this vehicle. My BAD!

But, it's not to say that, with all of the salt & corrosion in my area due to winter road salt that, I haven't had to change a bad gasket such as one on a rear differential...which only saw fluid changes once every 9 or 10 years. But that's not what I am referring to. How many of us/you change the e.g., the oil pan or ATF drain plug gasket every OCI or fluid change?

 

[BrendanC]

i don’t change them unless they’re badly damaged. never had one leak.

 

[KrisZ]

Same here, never had to change it unless I messed up or it was messed up from the previous oil changes done by someone else.

But I’m talking regular aluminum washer type gaskets, not some nylon or soft type ones that Toyota is using for example.

 

[doitmyself]

Discussed many times here. If I ever get a car with the actual multi layer crush washers that collapse and deform, I would probably install a new one at every change. I use the copper or aluminum flat washer types over and over until I notice them getting worn (flattened, mis-shaped). The past decade or two my vehicles have had the drain plug with built in rubber washer. I usually change them at 10 years or so.

 

[JoelB]

The filters for our Hyundai's are pretty weird but they do come with a crush washer. I always replace it because of that. If they weren't included I'd probably change them every 3-4 oil changes.

 

[FowVay]

Every time I break torque on a drain plug they get a new gasket. My Nissan has a funky gasket that collapses with installation and they're simply not reuseable. My BMW comes with a new drain plug gasket with each oil filter along with the required o-rings because that's what is specified from the mfgr. and the proper way to do the service. My Kawasaki motorcycle gets a new aluminum drain plug gasket every time I break torque on the plug because it's called for in the service manual.

I simply don't consider the maintenance event correctly performed if I don't replace items that are specified to be replaced with each service. They cost practically nothing so why neglect it?

 

[wings&wheels]

Every time. Why not? I have reannealed a copper one or two in a pinch over 40 years.

 

[Astro14]

Seriously? You’re going to bring this up again? It’s only been a few weeks since the last time.

Thread 'Do you replace oil drain plug washer...'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/do-you-replace-oil-drain-plug-washer.396160/

Thread 'Crush washer truth'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/crush-washer-truth.388496/

We don’t need to rehash this every couple of months. There are those who follow factory service recommendations (like torque specs, replacing one time use washers, etc.) and those who don’t.

Those who don’t are firmly convinced of their superiority because “nothing bad ever happened”.

So, why even bring it up?

 

[D60]

I too do the crush washers every time -- just did Tundra diffs last night.

The irony is most of us who do that don't think twice of removing a spark plug to inspect and then reinstalling it.

 

[dadto2]

I use a new crush washer on the Volvo every time. I could probably reuse once, but they tend to drip on the 3rd use. But they're cheap, so changing is just part of the process.