KevinDGP

Hello all,

I've been changing my own oil in my 2005 TL for the last year or so. Today I went to do a new change and couldn't get the plug out of the pan. I'm aware of the danger of rounding the plug and worked at it carefully, but I may have rounded it anyway. Any advice about the best way to deal with this?

Thanks in advance.

01tl4tl

First go to the auto parts store and for $2.50 get a new drain plug and washer
Now with the car on ramps or the lift, attach VISE GRIPS- the kind that lock in place,
and give it a whack or 4 with a hammer on the tool
Note the direction of the teeth and grip force on the tool

Lefty Loosy or counter clockwise as you face the plug or down towards the front
however you look at it
The correct torque is 28 ft lbs- a good serious tug and little whack of the hammer against
the box end/round closed end, type of wrench

csmeance

you can go to home depot and buy a breaker bit which grips into the blot to unscrew it. Take off the old bolt and put on a new bolt

wasupdog

iTrader: (2)

i had this same problem with my super tight drain plug, i didn't round the bolt out but i stripped it a little and couldn't get it off cus it was too tight. i went to an independent jiffy lube type place and paid the guy 10$ to loosen the bolt for me, tighten it back a little bit, and then i drove a mile home and changed the oil myself. those guys already have all the tools to take off really super tight drain bolts.

i couldn't get enough leverage on the bolt while it was on jacks to loosen it. if you are facing the bolt, rotate counterclockwise. make sure you already have a new bolt and washer handy.

KevinDGP

Thanks, all, for the replies. I'll follow the advice in the thread and report back how it goes.

bhelsdon

If you havent been using a 6 point socket try a 6 point 17mm socket first before you completly destroy the plug with pliers

Inaccurate

Agree !!! Six-point sockets are the only thing I own. Those 12-point sockets are "Satan's playground". :angryfire

DMZ

For my last oil change, the oil change place I went to had the machine the BMW dealers have where they stick a tube in the dipstick hole and suck out the old oil.

What's more, they told me that Acura slapped a 5W-20 recommendation on this car so they could meet certain fuel economy standards in general as a company as a whole and that I should really use 5W-30 in the summer.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

hmmm beleive jiffy lube about oil recommendations or the people that designed the engine? I'll keep using 5W-20.

Kweli

Funny, this exact thing happened to me...
My dad must have tightened it WAY to much

I took it to acura to get the oil change done and they told me that i had to REPLACE my oil pan, for 650 dollars (including labour)
Can you believe that shit?? Well i stormed out of there....

Next day i went to jiffy lube, they got it off, and charged me 2.50 for a new plug

Stupid Acura

binTL

I think the 5w20 from Acura's part was to get better fuel efficiency.

I would think a lighter weight oil during winter and medium weight during summer or the same.

DMZ

Sorry to have to break it to ya, but it wasn't Jiffy Lube. And I still use 5W-20.

KevinDGP

Thanks to the replies on this thread, I'm pleased to report that I was able to remove the plug. I used a 17mm, six point socket rather than the 11/16, twelve point socket I had been using, gave a couple of hammer taps, and voila, off it came. Of course, I replaced the plug with a new one to avoid problems in the future. Thanks again to all for the help!

DMZ

ALL Honda and Acura oil drain plug bolts are 17mm.

In fact, all bolts and nuts on these cars are metric.

Ackboy17

I have an '06 TL 4DR Base. The last time I changed my oil, I made the mistake of rounding out the drain bolt just a tad. I shouldn't have a problem removing the bolt again, but I wanted to make sure to purchase a new bolt before changing my oil in the next couple of weeks. I checked out http://acuraautomotiveparts.org, but was a confused as to which drain bolt to purchase.

I tried to reference the diagram and listings on acuraautomotive parts, and came up with the below information. Which drain bolt do I need? Can someone provide correct part number? Thanks!

90040-P8A-A01 BOLT, DRAIN PLUG
90001-PM3-003 BOLT, DRAIN PLUG (28MM)
90009-PY3-000 BOLT, PLUG (14MM)

Bearcat94

Should be item 12 in this drawing:

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...s=&view=normal

Which is the last part on your list 90009-PY3-000. That's the one on the Oil Pan.

Your other two items are plugs on the Cylinder Block.

LXiFLYBY

yesX864098398

denny crane

Has anyone tried this
http://www.ehow.com/how_4733863_oil-...very-time.html

SouthernBoy

Gentlemen;

As has been pointed out, the use of a 6-point 17mm socket is just about mandatory for the safe removal and replacement of your drain plug. Plus the use of a torque wrench is a must (29 ft/lbs or 360 in/lbs). Do these two things and you'll never have any of these problems.

I hate cars

Agreed. Using a torque wrench and a 6pt socket you will NEVER have a single problem with the bolt rounding off or stripping.

12pts are for tight places and should not be used if a 6pt will work. An exception is a true 12 pt bolt like many of the ARPs.

I hate cars

I would trust the engineers that designed the engine but the 5w-20 recommendation is a combo of marketing and CAFE, not the recommendation from the engineers. They've gone to a one size fits all approach with fuel economy taking priority over wear. They will make it past the warranty stage easily with a 5w-20 but for those of us that run them hard and want to get many more miles than just the warranty miles, a 30wt is better suited.

Look at the facts: The oil pump was not changed to a high volume unit when the switch to 5w-20 was made. The clearances are identical from the 5w-30 to the 5w-20 recommendations. Paul reports 7psi of hot idle oil pressure on 5w-20 in the J32. Borderline when new, I would hate to see it with 100,000 miles. The only thing that was changed was the 5w-20 stamp on the oil fill cap.

The only fuel economy savings happens during the warmup process. At full temp, there is not enough viscosity difference to make a measurable difference. As of now, most manufacturers report a .5mpg difference at best.

They say vtec won't work with a 30wt. They say you can't use a 30wt in the TL. Guess what, that 20wt in a Canadian winter is a 30 or 40wt at operating temp. I ran a synthetic straight 30 in the TL since new up until I put another straight 30 which qualifies as a 5w-30 which is Redline. In my climate I would never go back to a 20wt.

I've seen posts directly from one of the original Ford modular engine designers and he said he would never use 5w-20 in one of their 5w-20 spec'd engines. He said they took most of the safety cushion out by running the 5w-20. They did extensive dyno runs side by side with a 20wt and a 30wt and many teardowns and the 30wt engines showed significantly less wear. The supercharged versions with the same clearances spec a 50wt.

If you're trying to get a lot of miles out of the engine and you insist on a 20wt, Redline will work good because it has the HTHS of a good 30wt.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Looks like this has turned into another oil thread and next we'll be seeing the Seafoam ads!

I'm not going any further...............

I hate cars

I tried to stop myself.....really lol. I'm done too.