Changed my oil yesterday and when I took out the plug it seemed like it took alot of effort to remove it. More than before. It wasn't crossthreaded and it went back in about normal and tightened up just fine. Anyone else have a stubborn plug? Maybe the pan needs a rethread. Just wondering!

 

Well if it has been a while it takes a lot of effort to get those plugs off. I doubt your pan needs a rethread.

 

It's been about 6 months since the last oil change. Takes awhile to get 5000 miles on the synthetic oil. But I still don't remember it being the stuck feeling.

 

after enough years changing oil for a living here's my professional opinion:

if it's hard coming out, that's a warning. If it's hard going back in, that's a problem. Usually some sludge will cake on it and make it hard to remove. That's kinda a warning that you need to flush the pan a bit (I use a little ATF in the oil, run for a minute and then drain but rarely do that at all... maybe once a year). If it's hard getting the plug back in then you've had the threads pulled a little either in the pan or on the plug. Replace the plug in the event that it's hard going in and if it's still a tough one, then clean the pan threads with some brake cleaner and chase them with a tap (with some grease in the grooves to catch any shavings) then install a new drain plug.

Honda's used to have steel plugs and aluminum pans and pulled threads were common... so common that speedie lube joints developed suction systems to drain the oil through the dipstick tube instead of pulling the plug. I've had to heli-coil my fair share of oil pans. Remember.. you don't have to torque down the plug hella hard... usually 10-12lbs of torque on the thing is plenty.

/expert opinion.

 

On top of rednecks suggestion, steeda makes a magnatic oil pan plug. if you re-tap that, use that to make sure u get all the shavings out. id actually run some cheap oil through your car for a week then go back to whatever you use and check the end of the plug for shavings. metal shavings are the last thing you want floating around.

 

Or when you re-tap it, put vasaline on the end so it will make the shavings stick to it. But the magnetic plug would be sweet insurance.

 

5k on synthetic oil? I only put 2500 on mine before i do a change! Is this a normal amount to put on synthetic?

 

depends on your driving habits. I run amsoil which is a 7000k mile oil. I goto the track and whatnot so I change it at 5000k. On mobile 1, I wouldnt run it past 5000k miles even if you dont beat on the car because its a low ranking oil compared to all the other synthetics.

 

A magnetic drain plug was what I was planning on changing to. There was no gunk on the threads and it went back in easily so I dont't think a problem is in the future. But changing to a magnetic plug is probably a safe bet.