[Shop-talk] Oil plugs, WHY?

[Brian Kemp]

I think they are horizontal for extra protection against ground impact.  
If they stuck out the bottom and you went off road or drove over a 
concrete stop in a parking lot, an oil drain plug could take a direct 
impact and perhaps have greater damage than hitting a frame rail or 
suspension bit.

I share your frustration with the oil filter location from my Honda 
Odyssey.  Changing the filter caused oil to come down directly on the 
frame rail.  My solution was to take a foot square of alluminum foil and 
make my own deflection device to catch all the oil and direct it to the 
drain pan.

Brian

On 1/4/2021 5:14 AM, eric at megageek.com wrote:
> OK, this is half vent and half "can someone explain why the heck do 
> they do this to us?"
>
> I notice that just about EVERY modern's car drain plug drains 
> horizontally and not vertically (where the plug come straight down 
> from the bottom of the oil pan.)  This make's oil changes SO much 
> harder and messier.
>
> Then, I've even seen (2018 Ford F150) where it has a frame rail right 
> in front of the oil hole and it splashes the nearly 2 GALLONS of oil 
> everywhere.  Then, the oil filter has a 'slide' under it to redirect 
> the oil to the front of the frame, which is nice, EXCEPT that it 
> doesn't go all the way back to under the oil filter!  This means that 
> some oil drips under the oil filter while more drips in front of the 
> frame rail about 2 feet away (meaning no single oil pan can catch 
> both.)  I'm seeing this in more and more cars that have stupid oil 
> drains.
>
> Now I get that engines are sometime designed in a vacuum and the frame 
> builders don't care what is in the way, but it just seems that for 
> optimal oil changes, a plug should be at the bottom of the pan.  With 
> all the environmental concerns, I would also imagine that any way to 
> prevent oil spills and splashes would be ideal.
>
> Can anyone explain this?  Or is it just a case of designers really 
> HATE mechanics?
>
>
> "Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a 
> rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your 
> territory." Ralph Waldo Emerson
> -Who is John Galt?
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk http://autox.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/bk13@earthlink.net
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk/attachments/20210104/5674d1e9/attachment.htm>