Oil Drain Valve ?

[bigbird_1]

Originally Posted By: bigbird_1
I purchased a Femco and drain tube from the N. American distributor here in Winnipeg. The valve and drain tube are very high quality, much better than the Fumoto in my opinion. The valve itself comes with a solid copper gasket, with a suggested torque of 12 ft. lbs. I'll be installing the valve when I do my next oil change in about 1 week.


Well, I installed the Femco today, and was I ever disappointed. I torqued the valve to the 12 ft. lbs. as specified on the package. I used a 22mm 6 point socket with a very good quality "clicker" type torque wrench. I finger tightened the Femco in the pan before using the torque wrench. Before the torque wrench clicked off at the specified torque, the drain valve started to just spin in the drain hole of the oil pan. I removed the valve with my fingers and found the threaded portion of the valve had actually sheared off from the valve body. The copper washer hadn't even been crushed at that point. I'm going to assume that this was caused by a defective valve. I know that I didn't overtorque the valve. I emailed the company and I'll post what their response to my disappointment is. I installed a new Fumoto F107 with a combination wrench and there was no such problem, so I know it's not the threads in the oil pan. I'll bite my tongue and retract my statement about the Femco being much better quality than the Fumoto.

 

[Zhukov]

I have a Fumoto on my 08 Toyota Tundra and my wife's 08 Nissan Altima. Great little device, super build quality - much better than the Femco I found on clearance and put on my mom's Lincoln. They both get the job done though.

 

[zulu]

I put mine on my 2.4 Malibu the other night. Great piece, but was a little miffed. The oil plug hole is only very slightly angled down, so now with the valve/adapter installed it looks like the valve is totally horizontal. I wonder how much oil this thing is going to leave in the sump. My next change I'll drain it all by the valve, then take the valve off to see how much is left.

 

[D Bone]

Originally Posted By: zulu
I put mine on my 2.4 Malibu the other night. Great piece, but was a little miffed. The oil plug hole is only very slightly angled down, so now with the valve/adapter installed it looks like the valve is totally horizontal. I wonder how much oil this thing is going to leave in the sump. My next change I'll drain it all by the valve, then take the valve off to see how much is left.



Please post back with how much oil was still left in the sump, because I have the same concerns as you!

 

[H2GURU]

The answer from Scoobie Doo on the HACKSAW question seems wrong. What the fanatic does is: Hold the valve in your hand and look at the part that threads into the oil pan, then they saw a cross-hair if you will ( like looking thru a gunsight) into the end, thus when its screwed in some residual finds its way thru the slits and out the orifice. Total waste of time as there is far more oil left inside your engine than the 1 oz. that the Fuomto traps! I've Fumotoized my stable and they work great. Good Luck.

 

[PW01]

The Femco looks just like the much cheaper, and in my experience problem free, Fram Suredrain that I have had on my 2 vehicles for years.

 

[bigbird_1]

Well, the sales manager got back to me about the broken Femco. He emailed an instruction sheet (which wasn't given to me on pickup of the valve), and it specifically said that on my application (M12-1.75mm for a GM engine) that the Femco threads are very coarse and short. They emphasized that you MUST torque to no more than 12 ft lbs, and get this, they recommended that a semi-permanent Loctite sealer be put on the Femco threads for this application. He did say that if I returned the damaged valve, he'd give me a free replacement. So, I'll request a refund, and if he won't, I'll get the new valve and put the new valve and unused drain tube on eBay and just eat my loss. Lesson learned.

 

[zulu]

UPDATE TO EARLIER POST...

Being the OCD type person I am, I went home and drained my fresh oil to test the Fumoto valve. Obviously, it worked as promised. Drains about half as quikcly (usually takes 5-7 minutes to get to a steady drip, Fumoto took almost 15). As I mentioned earlier, on the Ecotec motors like mine, the drain plug is almost horizontal facing the rear, so when I installed the Fumoto, it was near horizontal. I feared that without any downward angle, a significant ammount of oil may be left in the sump. Well, tonight after draining with the Fumoto until it reached a drip, I then removed the valve and let the residual oil drain into a measuring beaker. The Fumoto left EXACTLY 2.5oz of residual oil in the sump... about 1.5% of my total sump capacity. Needless to say, my fears were not warranted. I put the Fumoto back on and filled it up. Hope this helps anybody who is curious.

 

[MysticGold04]

I have Fumotos on both of my Toyotas. What I like about the one on the Tacoma is that it is above the skid plate, so it is more protected, and also the valve's opening is pointed straight down so it gets almost all of the oil outta the pan.

Since finding out about them, I've installed one on every vehicle I have had. I just hate removing the drain bolt and having the oil splash everywhere. If you drain the oil hot, it will drain much quicker. Even though it drains slower, I have time to get my supplies ready and even change the filter while its draining. Great time saver, IMO.

 

[Zhukov]

About residual oil:

I pulled the Fumoto on my aforementioned Altima last time because the oil wasn't hot and it was draining forever. Even them, hardly any additional oil drained out. Like a previous poster said - the amount of oil left in the sump with the Fumoto is negligible and not worth thinking about. That hacksaw fix is just an answer looking for a problem.

 

[bigbird_1]

Outcome of broken Femco valve:
Femco distributor gave me a full refund with no hesitation. They knew they were negligent in not providing the installation instructions which included the Loctite suggestion. For now, I'll stick with the regular drain plug. The Fumoto's take way too long for my liking.

 

[D Bone]

Originally Posted By: zulu
UPDATE TO EARLIER POST...

Being the OCD type person I am, I went home and drained my fresh oil to test the Fumoto valve. Obviously, it worked as promised. Drains about half as quikcly (usually takes 5-7 minutes to get to a steady drip, Fumoto took almost 15). As I mentioned earlier, on the Ecotec motors like mine, the drain plug is almost horizontal facing the rear, so when I installed the Fumoto, it was near horizontal. I feared that without any downward angle, a significant ammount of oil may be left in the sump. Well, tonight after draining with the Fumoto until it reached a drip, I then removed the valve and let the residual oil drain into a measuring beaker. The Fumoto left EXACTLY 2.5oz of residual oil in the sump... about 1.5% of my total sump capacity. Needless to say, my fears were not warranted. I put the Fumoto back on and filled it up. Hope this helps anybody who is curious.



Thanks! I ordered a Fumoto for my Mazda3 2.3l and it has a drain plug oriented like yours. So it's nice to know that it basically drains the same amount of oil as the drain bolt.