I brought my 2004 F150 4.6 in for the Last oil change and I mentioned to the service manager to please be careful my truck doesn't have any scratches in the paint. So I decided that since my warranty is over I would resume changing my own oil.... so last Saturday I crawl under, slide the OIL pan under and proceed to remove the drain plug... it seemed kinda tight so after about 4 stiff turns its comes out easier... turns out the guy that change the oil at Vista Ford on Ventura Blvd in Woodlen Hills Calif "STRIPPED" the drain plug.. it appears the damage is to the plug and not the pan I think the pan threads are hardened... If your into maintenance check others work

 

man that sucks man i hope it was just the bolt and not the pan

 

ok, let me give you my opinion about this. Ford's drain plugs are some of the hardest to take out and put back in. The plugs could easily be damaged over several changes. If the plug's threads are damaged, just get a new one....they should not be expensive at all. Also, if the pan is damaged, you possibly can retap the threads in the pan. Last, if all else fails, just put a pan saver in it....it will go to the junkyard with the truck and is just as good as a regular plug besides the fact that you dont want to remove it completely.
How do i know this? Cause I am a technician at valvoline and have changed the oil on MANY different cars, and a lot of fords. You might even be able to go to one of these places and ask for a ford drain plug....they have plenty of them....or at least the shop i work at does.

 

Probably not a good idea to blast a dealer by name like that. Especially in the '04+ forum. Me thinks this may be moved soon.

 

I put one of those Fram "easy drain" plugs on my truck. May want to consider one after you get your issue fixed.

 

I support the guy. I'm all for knowing where not to take my truck, but there also need to be props for GOOD dealers who have good service.

 

Thanks for the info guys I will check it all out...I took out the word Idiot and changed it to guy...

 

I am putting one of these on mine n the next oil change:
Fumoto Valve

 

X2, love that thing. No mess, no fuss

 

This thing works great....everytime

 

DITTO bad service, gets you bad word of mouth. That's exactly what this is.

I've always done my own changes. that fumoto valve looks like a great new addition!

 

Thanks for the link

 

It seems like the idiots who work in shops would be able to accomplish a simple task like changing the oil or rotating tires without messing that up. It is their job, after all. I have had more cross-threaded lug nuts and oil pan bolts over the past few years than you can imagine. I think that anyone who works on cars for a living and cross-threads a bolt because he decided to put the bolt on the end of an air gun and let the air gun thread it on for them should have that air gun shoved up their ***** at full speed. How much common sense does it take to thread the nut on with your hand first, then snug it up with the air gun. Every half-brained grease monkey thinks he should be in NASCAR because of his awesome skill of putting on lug nuts.

 

I've seen those before, but I don't know if I would trust them. If the valve somehow happened to open when you were driving down the road, you would loose all your oil and may not know about it until it's too late.

I like the Fram "Sure Drain"... sorry I called it "Easy Drain" before.



With the Sure Drain, you replace your drain plug with a new plug. Then on top of this new plug you screw on a easily removable knurled cap with an o-ring. The cap alone is enough to seal the oil from leaking out, but even when you remove the cap, the oil does not drain out. You have to remove the cap and then thread on a different fitting with the short orange tube on it and it for the oil to drain out. The fitting w/ the orange tube depresses something inside the drain plug to allow the oil to flow out.

Anyways, I like this better than the other one posted because you kind of have a safety. It does take a little longer for the oil to drain through the Sure Drain, but the ease of use and no tools required part of it makes up for it.

 

Is it the angle of the pic, or is the actual opening for that valve that small?