Date:         Mon, 16 Jun 2003 15:16:13 -0400
Reply-To:     SStones <sstones@IDIRECT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         SStones <sstones@IDIRECT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Oil Changing
In-Reply-To:  <MBBBKDEJGIMPPBCIPIPJCEJPELAA.bghuna@mchsi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 02:01 PM 6/16/03 -0500, you wrote:
>but this product at my FLAPS
>caught my eye and I wondered if it would be worth the $13 investment to make
>changing the oil easier (even if it is from FRAM) as there would be no fear
>of over-torquing the plug or stripping the threads everytime. [What size is
>the drain plug?]
>http://www.fram.com/ under "PRODUCT Accessories," scroll to the bottom...

The oil plug is pretty much the lowest part of your van, excepting wheel
parts, and even lower when accelerating. I've had to extend mine 3/4 of an
inch already after stripping the threads and being forced to put in an
oversized fitting.  The thought of it getting bashed out by a chunk of ice
or a loop of re-tread dead-center in the lane on the highway scares me. I
wouldn't intentionally put something like this on my van unless I never
used it on anything except paved roads.
I wish I could tell you the size of that crush washer, but unfortunately, I
just got a handful of them once several years ago and haven't yet run out
of them. I only change the oil twice a year so I wouldn't put this thing
on, but if you put on more than twice the milage I accumulate, don't run a
risk of cracking it out of the aluminum and think it would be handy, go for
it. It's cute. The oil's still going to be a mess when you pull the filter
off, regardless of how nicely it was confined to a hose from the drain hole.