RTV on engine oil drain plug??

[The Critic]

Had a '03 Altima in today that had supposedly been getting oil changes by a highly-rated local shop for the last few years.

When I went to drain the oil, I found a boatload of orange RTV on the drain plug's head (and its threads), as well as a warped 12mm aluminum crush washer.

Obviously this was suspicious to me, as usually these fixes are left for leaking drain plugs (or oil pans) due to damaged threads. I cleaned off all the RTV from the bolt's head and the threads, then used a new OE copper crush washer. The threads felt fine and the drain plug was in good shape. I ran the car for a while and waited, but was unable to find any leaks from the drain plug.

Any ideas as to why one would use RTV on an engine oil drain plug??

 

[RiceCake]

Its actually possible someone thought this was standard operating procedure. When I started doing my own oil changes for instance, I was surprised by how often I'd find a quick lube place had hosed off the bottom of something with that spray stop-leak stuff, even if removing it showed no indications of real leaks.

 

[Quest]

simple! It's a darnn cheep fix for oil leaks of any kind.

Replace with a fresh new crush washer if I were you.

Q.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Quest
simple! It's a darnn cheep fix for oil leaks of any kind.

Replace with a fresh new crush washer if I were you.

Q.


I did - I cleaned up the whole mess and installed the proper OE copper crush washer. No leaks to be found...as far as I can tell.

 

[GMBoy]

Strange indeed. Maybe they did that as a means of tamper-proofing their work. If the csr came back for any concerns related to the oil change, they could tell if the plug was removed.

 

[morris]

see you proved my point. sometimes the factory DOES know what they are doing

 

[Doog]

Some guys will use some thread sealer instead of getting new crush washers. Easier if you do 10-15 oil changes a day.

 

[ajchien]

My guess is that the old aluminum washer was reused numerous times and it no longer sealed. Was easier to apply rtv than to get a new washer.

 

[LoneRanger]

Won't the residual RTV in the pan's threads be shoved up into the pan as tiny little bits when the plug is screwed back in? I guess the filter would catch them easy enough though.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Won't the residual RTV in the pan's threads be shoved up into the pan as tiny little bits when the plug is screwed back in? I guess the filter would catch them easy enough though.


....or they will collect in the oil pump screen and that's never good.

 

[Chris142]

After 30 years in the business nothing surprises me.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Its actually possible someone thought this was standard operating procedure. When I started doing my own oil changes for instance, I was surprised by how often I'd find a quick lube place had hosed off the bottom of something with that spray stop-leak stuff, even if removing it showed no indications of real leaks.


That might have been Tamper Seal. They had us use it at Sears so when people would drain the oil and blow the motor and blame Sears, we could prove they did it. You laugh, but it happens a lot.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Its actually possible someone thought this was standard operating procedure. When I started doing my own oil changes for instance, I was surprised by how often I'd find a quick lube place had hosed off the bottom of something with that spray stop-leak stuff, even if removing it showed no indications of real leaks.


That might have been Tamper Seal. They had us use it at Sears so when people would drain the oil and blow the motor and blame Sears, we could prove they did it. You laugh, but it happens a lot.


It definitely wasn't Tamper-Seal...there are remnants of the blue tamper-seal on the oil drain plug that absolutely will not come off. The stuff that was used on the engine oil drain plug and transmission pan drain plug was some kind of orange RTV.

Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Its actually possible someone thought this was standard operating procedure. When I started doing my own oil changes for instance, I was surprised by how often I'd find a quick lube place had hosed off the bottom of something with that spray stop-leak stuff, even if removing it showed no indications of real leaks.

Here's an update. I spoke to the shop's owner since I was dropping someone off there, and he told me that it was SOP to use RTV on every drain plug since "he didn't want any oil leaks, and RTV seals it up real good." He hinted that sourcing the proper gasket for every make/model would be troublesome and he has never had any issues with RTV. I just nodded my head and left.

By the way, I was under the same car yesterday (the one mentioned in the original post) and the drain plug was bone dry - absolutely no leaks when a new OE crush washer was used. I was checking the car for a transmission leak and noticed a bit of it on the transmission pan drain plug as well.

Yeah, I'm not sold on this RTV business...

 

[tom slick]

RTV has its place, Plugs or threads of any type are not that place.