How tight does the drain plug have to be again?

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Was time to do an oil change, got under, put the wrench on and... not even finger tight. ! Hadn't been leaking, I must have put it on finger tight then forgotten to hit it with the wrench last time. Yeepers.

Somedays you wonder about yourself... Sheesh, I knew it'd been a bad year and all, but didn't think I'd been in that bad of a state.

Was darn sure to put it to one gutentight this time! I might even check again in a few days.
 
They have to be tight enough that they don't come loose. Evidently yours was tight enough, but I wouldn't do that again :)

Many more drain plugs are over tightened than under tightened.

I had a fill plug in my 2002 suburban front differential that I ran in with my fingers until it made contact, then promptly forgot to tighten it with the allen wrench. It didn't even leak for 50,000 miles, nor did it fall out. I had one of those head slapper moments when I loosened it the next time.
 
Yeah I know, it doesn't need much. But it's a bit of a wake up when you realize--it's not even close.

One wants to poke fun in the Iffy Lube threads, then one comes darn close to have their own...

Irony: On my son's CRV, it was a hand-me-down from the MIL, who had it serviced at a dealer and a couple other shops. The bolt was rather tight when I did the first oil change, and I realized the threads were boogered up, as the bolt needs a wrench to come all the way out, it's got that much drag. Anyhow. Last oil change, I noticed my driveway getting marked. Hit it with a wrench, it was tight--but just a bit more umph (two gutentights?) and now it's seated. New crush washer on my part, but I think the pan is buggered up. So that one really needs it tightened down, and hard. Go figure.
 
I picked up some fiber drain plugs for my 02 camry. They would compress while being torqued but then shrink some more while in service. This left the drain plug finger tight the next time around.

I'd crawl under there 1000 miles into an OCI and it would take more, then be "good."

Makes you wonder why we change them every time.
 
Yeah I know, it doesn't need much. But it's a bit of a wake up when you realize--it's not even close.

One wants to poke fun in the Iffy Lube threads, then one comes darn close to have their own...

Irony: On my son's CRV, it was a hand-me-down from the MIL, who had it serviced at a dealer and a couple other shops. The bolt was rather tight when I did the first oil change, and I realized the threads were boogered up, as the bolt needs a wrench to come all the way out, it's got that much drag. Anyhow. Last oil change, I noticed my driveway getting marked. Hit it with a wrench, it was tight--but just a bit more umph (two gutentights?) and now it's seated. New crush washer on my part, but I think the pan is buggered up. So that one really needs it tightened down, and hard. Go figure.
When it's starting to get that bad it might be a good idea to put a Valv-O-Max or a Fumoto oil drain valve on it while they're still enough threads left to install it without it leaking. Once you have one of those installed you never have to remove the oil drain plug again to change the oil. Personally I have put a Fumoto on my CR-V and I had to grind off about a quarter inch from an exhaust flange to get it to go on in the first place, and when tightening it down, the final alignment of the valve lever ends up being a total crapshoot that is dependent upon how the threads in oil pan drain hole line up with the threads on the valve itself. I had to significantly over tighten the valve to get the valve to a location where I would be able to use it. And all the time I was doing that I was worried about it breaking off because it's only made of brass. If I had it to do over again I would go with the Valv-O-Max.


Apparently Fumoto has realized the problem of the alignment of the valve lever being dependent on how the threads happen to line up, and they've come out with a design that has a couple of O-rings on it and is easier to get things to line up, but this complicated design apparently is not well designed because there are some people that have said they've tried to use it and it ended up leaking. So again it looks like Valv-O-Max is the best choice for an install it once and never have to mess with the threads again oil drain valve.
 
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That’s why I always double check myself. Everyone makes mistakes. My first and last one I never did it again after that. My coworker unfortunately blew one up doing that but the customer also ignored the light and drove it for a week. Mine the customer had it towed back in. Had an oil filter come loose once too but that wasn’t my fault completely as a TSB was issued shortly after for the ACDelco spin on filters. Have had a few come in where the plug was finger tight and wasn’t leaking too. Those people got lucky. You did too.
 
I picked up some fiber drain plugs for my 02 camry. They would compress while being torqued but then shrink some more while in service. This left the drain plug finger tight the next time around.

I'd crawl under there 1000 miles into an OCI and it would take more, then be "good."

Makes you wonder why we change them every time.

I‘ve never experienced a crush or non-metallic washer shrink. That‘s odd.

With that said, the original gasket that came with the first Fumoto valve I ever installed came loose after the first OCI. I snugged it up and never had another issue. I may have under-torqued it, but maybe that wasn’t the case. Hmmm
 
Was time to do an oil change, got under, put the wrench on and... not even finger tight. ! Hadn't been leaking, I must have put it on finger tight then forgotten to hit it with the wrench last time. Yeepers.

Somedays you wonder about yourself... Sheesh, I knew it'd been a bad year and all, but didn't think I'd been in that bad of a state.

Was darn sure to put it to one gutentight this time! I might even check again in a few days.
I like the Nissan crush washers. They are kind of like a lock washer. When completely crushed, it's fine. I used them on everything that fits them.
 
Was time to do an oil change, got under, put the wrench on and... not even finger tight. ! Hadn't been leaking, I must have put it on finger tight then forgotten to hit it with the wrench last time. Yeepers.

Somedays you wonder about yourself... Sheesh, I knew it'd been a bad year and all, but didn't think I'd been in that bad of a state.

Was darn sure to put it to one gutentight this time! I might even check again in a few days.
Some manufacturers list a torque spec for the oil drain plug bolt.

In order not to worry about torquing a oil drain plug bolt, buy one of those Fumoto Valves or equivalent.
 
Was time to do an oil change, got under, put the wrench on and... not even finger tight. ! Hadn't been leaking, I must have put it on finger tight then forgotten to hit it with the wrench last time. Yeepers.

Somedays you wonder about yourself... Sheesh, I knew it'd been a bad year and all, but didn't think I'd been in that bad of a state.

Was darn sure to put it to one gutentight this time! I might even check again in a few days.
Gutentight is too tight. I like snug +.
 
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