found out oil is leaking from somewhere near the oil pan area....

i'm at work right now...
i got to work at 1pm and just found out about the leak at around 7:30ish so that means it took about 5.5-6 hours for the oil to leak that amount....

- oil level is at half mark right now, should i fill it up and drive it home? 38miles away from work

- leave it at work and get acura roadside to tow it to the nearest dealership? ~12 miles away from work

- fill it up and drive it to my local dealership? 40miles away from work

 

How much oil are we talking about? Did you change the oil recently? I would check the drain plug and oil filter area.

 

so i took the car to pohanka acura in chantilly, va. they have extended service hours 6am-12midnight mon-fri....

anyhoo...they put it up on the lift and we found out that the drain bolt/plug was improperly installed back into the oil pan and screwed up the threads and the oil pan is no longer usable...

i take my car to tischer acura in laurel, md. for oil changes...

so now i need a new oil pan which is $320. The service guy at pohanka was cool, he gave me a loaner car and will call tischer acura to sort out the bills since i won't be paying a dime...

not sure if i'd want to have tischer acura replace the oil pan...

what a day....

 

if anyone has a helm's manual 2004, go to page 7-11, didnt know there was a lot of disassembly to get the oil pan out...

 

Another good reason to do your own oil changes.

 

jmatthew's situation is discouraging for folks who can't do their own oil changes for one reason or another.

Its not that difficult to make sure that bolt is threaded correctly before you crank it down. Finger tighten down to the pan, and then use a socket. If you can't finger tighten it down to the pan, its not catching the threads correctly. Not hard.

 

Maybe this is true for our cars, but on my BMW, the plug is tappered so the plug will never entirely come out. I don't recall if there is tapper on ours.

None-the-less, the person that put this plug back in was an IDIOT!!!!!

 

right, i was afraid of screwing up something so i let the dealership do the oil changes, all other basic maintenance is something i can do at home....but now i'm debating on just doing the oil changes myself at home...

time to go to tischer and be friendly even though they messed up....i just have to remember not to yell...

 

Why not go back to Tischer and have them pay for the fix? I mean, they're the ones who screwed it up.

 

j, that sucks man. Lucky for you that everything seems to be working out. Hopefully Tischer will fess up and just pay for it.

 

Same situation happened to my friend's Acura. He bought it new from the dealer and always serviced by the dealer. The dealer then told him during one routine service visit, the thread on the oil drain was damaged and "made" my friend pay for a new oil pan! I'm telling you there are idiots working in the dealer service dept. The guy probably didn't even replace the crush washer during each oil change and kept cranking down on the same old washer. Btw, the car was out of warranty.

 

One question: why can't they re-tap the oil drain hole in the original pan, even if it means putting in a slightly larger drain bolt? Isn't that easier? And, in terms of having the same schmoes who can't thread a drain plug pull your oil pan, safer?

 

You still need to drop the pan so metal shaving won't collect in the pan. Additionally, the larger drain plug might not fit the factory crush washer. So, if the pan is off, might as well replace it.

 

Good point, no sense putting the defective one back on.

 

Unfuckingbelievable...I would rip that dealer a new one. No way you should pay for that.

 

tischer stated they would take care of everything for now....but as jtso said, this is just another reason for me to do the oil changes......

 

I bet I can just see this noob using an air tool to take off the drain plug and the use it to put it back on...

"Oh shit... I guess I won't say anything, its tight enough"

They know who did the oil change, so I would "inform" them about the turd's workmanship.

 

Yea, its really not that hard at all. The only thing special you need is the Honda filter wrench which makes getting the filter off much eaiser...

Click me, head to the bottom

The only real labor part is taking off the wheel to get to the filter. Some people just turn the wheel, but I find it much easier to just take it off. And since I have to jack my car anyway to fit the oil pan, its no extra work.

15-20 mins tops...

 

There is also a Honda magnetic oil funnel I've been trying to get my hands on. Supposedly it makes getting our filter out a lot cleaner. MrChad tracked one down once, but I don't know if he ever got it.

 

so pohanka will be taking care of replacing the oil pan....

the guys at tischer stated the drain plug is made of aluminum, anyone know if this is true and if so would that be a reason for the part to fail?

 

It could be made from cheese, but if it was designed for the car and fitted correctly, it shouldn't fail.

 

So which part failed? the drain plug or the threads on the oil pan? I'd bet it's the threads on the oil pan. Btw, ask them to give you the old crush washer off the drain bolt. Inspect it and see how many times they have reused it. If it was only used once, then the idiot torqued it down too hard.

 

last night the tech at pohanka stated the threads on the oil pan failed...i'll be asking for all the old parts though...so stay tuned...

the funny thing is tischer never admitted that they messed up, they just blamed it on the part...i'll def have to deal with them later....

 

what? your making cheese quesadillas and you want to invite me over :troutslap


i doubt it was a parts issue, i don't think sauceman has had this issue and he has more miles on his car than i do...