Why do Americans hate drain plugs? Drive line oil change queries.

[Jordi]

That looks like some stereo install and ignition box wiring I've seen lol

Not looking forward to the wiring. Loads of plugs and wires that just don’t do anything on this truck. Random plugs just go nowhere.

 

[Dejure]

Yep, where you live can be a problem. When I lived in Bremerton, Washington, we dealt with that less than scrupulous businesses knew each aircraft carrier brought in 4,000 and more new customers to replace the ones they screwed and pissed off.

After a while, the locals were able to learn who the good guys were. Usually, they were not nearly as flashy.

As to the "everything has a drain plug," yeah, those bragged about Subarus suffer design stupidity too. No fill tube for the transmission. Rather, you fill it like we did manual transmissions and rear ends - pump until it runs out.

IF you let the "pro's" do it, it's $400.00. If you buy the overpriced transmission fluid, its around $170.00.

All that aside, I'm a Sumoto fan. One on the 350 and one on the Forester oil pan [which they hide, even as they leave the tranny drain out in the open].

 

[Jordi]

Does removing the sump drain all the oil from the gearbox or does it have various cavities where the oil sits?

It’s down as 9.5lts total but only 2.8lts for a refill on the spec sheet i have.

Does using a vacuum extractor get more out?

Looking at getting as much oil out as possible as i have no idea when it was last done and so i don’t end up covering my nice new concrete floor in a bucket load of 20 year old gear oil.

 

[nvrenuf]

The torque converter will hold most of the fluid, not really much you can do about it other than drain / refill / repeat until the fluid looks good but that can get expensive.

For the average service with not preexisting problems, draining the pan, changing the filter and refilling are all that’s done.

 

[Jordi]

The torque converter will hold most of the fluid, not really much you can do about it other than drain / refill / repeat until the fluid looks good but that can get expensive.

Probably a good job i’m getting 20 litres of Dexron for it.

Gonna look at fitting a sump plug while it’s apart but might just get a vacuum extractor.

Don’t wanna mess it up and ruin the sump.

Probably a lot cleaner to use a vacuum extractor, measure what i take out and refill again to flush it through.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I've run multiple vehicles from brand new to well over 200, 300, and one over 400k, and never changed a single fluid but the oil.

I could care less about drain plugs.

 

[Jordi]

Oils degrade, get contaminated, vehicles get abused.

I like to give anything new to me a good service and inspection.

 

[YakkoWarner]

That is one thing I always appreciated about my old British cars - they had a drain plug for everything. Radiator, engine block, transmission and rear axle.

I was a little disappinted that the very late year transmission I got for the British car did away with the dipstick for checking the level (but still has the drainplug at least). Now instead of just checking it every fillup like the engine oil I have to get the car up while keeping it level and make a horrifying mess to check it.

 

[WP29P4A]

I hope you never work in an auto shop because you'd probably have a panic attack every time you got out on the road with the average driver if you ever saw some of the stuff people have done to THIER OWN VEHICLES.

Also, the average customer wants the cheapest price and will refuse to fix items that are safety/priority issues and then complains when things go wrong or become a more expensive issue. This is why I no longer work in a shop on other people's junk because I have too much pride in my work to operate in that manner.

Ya sure just fix the air who need rear brakes and front ball joints

I know what you mean, I have seen some wild stuff. I'm not a paid mechanic and would never want to be. I only do my own stuff because I have had terrible luck paying others to fix my stuff correctly. You can't pay me enough to do basic maintenance or repairs on daily vehicles for someone else. The stuff that I will touch is normally above $100,000 rock crawlers and some custom trailers, and some side by sides. The stuff I work on is high end so almost no mickey mouse adventures. The pic below is the most challenging (vehicle) project I have ever worked on. When the client got it back from having it converted to a V8, it had a few electrical issues to work out. The company that did the work gave him no wiring diagrams or maps of what they did to the electrical, to swap the V8 in with it's own computer, into the jeep. The part that bothers me, I think the professionals that do these things for a living should do it better than I do, but that is not the pattern I'm seeing.

 

[JBswth]

Until now the only real spannering I have done has been on my Suzuki SJ.

Everything has a drain plug. Everything has a fill plug.

Dodge ram RWD - take the diff cover off to drain (or suck it out)

Is this the correct way to drain the oils from my driveline???

This Chevy TH350 - suck it out, crack the sump off and await the disaster (which I will be as i’m doing the filters) and, if so inclined fit a plug or after market sump.

NP203 kinda has a drain plug.

Dana 60 / 14 bolt remove the diff cover or suck it out.

We love drain plugs. The automakers hate them because it costs a few pennies more to make them with drain plugs. American corporations think they will be bankrupt if they have just 1 cent less money.

J. B.

 

[JBswth]

I know what you mean, I have seen some wild stuff. I'm not a paid mechanic and would never want to be. I only do my own stuff because I have had terrible luck paying others to fix my stuff correctly. You can't pay me enough to do basic maintenance or repairs on daily vehicles for someone else. The stuff that I will touch is normally above $100,000 rock crawlers and some custom trailers, and some side by sides. The stuff I work on is high end so almost no mickey mouse adventures. The pic below is the most challenging (vehicle) project I have ever worked on. When the client got it back from having it converted to a V8, it had a few electrical issues to work out. The company that did the work gave him no wiring diagrams or maps of what they did to the electrical, to swap the V8 in with it's own computer, into the jeep. The part that bothers me, I think the professionals that do these things for a living should do it better than I do, but that is not the pattern I'm seeing.

Many of them, just like corporations, do as little as possible, and charge as much as possible.

J. B.

 

[Ricko1966]

We love drain plugs. The automakers hate them because it costs a few pennies more to make them with drain plugs. American corporations think they will be bankrupt if they have just 1 cent less money.

J. B.

That 1 cent magnified x people want them to change 1000 other 1 cent items times a billion cars. It adds up. And a lot of these thing are a no issue deal for 99% of their owners. 99% of people don't maintain their vehicles,most will never have a brake fluid flush,change differential lubricant,change transmission fluid. Most never even check the levels. And most of the car enthusiasts that do maintain their stuff aren't buying and maintaining new cars it's older stuff. There were some guys on another forumn complaining about what a bad design it was the way GM put the fender emblems on some late 60s early 70s A bodies. JEEZ this is ridiculous you have to loosen the inner fenders to get your hand in there to remove the speed nuts so you can take the emblem off,what a bad design!! And others chiming in about how it is a bad design and how it should have been done. 99% of people never remove the fender badges,but they've stayed on the car for 60 years. I see nothing wrong with that design.

 

[Steelbuddha]

The engineers give us drain plugs, and the accountants take them away. True of a lot of automotive stuff.

This thread recalled something I did about 25 years ago. I inherited a 1991 S-15 4x4 Jimmy, which was an absolutely great vehicle. Never got stuck, never came home on the hook. It was a 4.3L six with a 700R4 behind it. The problem was, they shoehorned a bunch of full-sized 1/2-ton truck parts into a smaller platform. To get the transmission pan down (for your bath in ATF), you had to remove a transmission crossmember and drop one side of the exhaust. Then you could just barely weasel the pan out. I put a drain plug in the pan while it was out. Also put a remote filter base up top, plumbed it to the transmission cooler lines, put a big spin-on filter on it, and put everything back together. It added another quart of fluid to the system, kept the transmission temperature consistently low (even with a trailer), and made future transmission filter changes from underneath unnecessary. Definitely an upgrade I would do again. Often wish I still had that old truck.

 

[Hunter79764]

Yes, its frustrating to not have the maintenance items, but, yes, it really does add up. And to think that GM would just not make as much money isn't accurate, they would make the same money but the truck would be a couple bucks more for this drain plug, a couple bucks more for that filter, a lot of bucks more for the fender trim that can be removed from the outside but without accidentally coming off, and pretty soon the truck costs a lot more and 99% of people never have a clue what they paid for, and GM makes the same money (as long as Ford and Dodge got the memo to build them the same way).

I used to work for a large home appliance manufacturer in an industry that everyone always complains "They don't build them like they used to, that old one made it 40 years with no problems...". They did a bunch of market research and focus groups etc about a new line that was slightly lower efficiency but built to last with all American made components. People absolutely loved it and that that was what we should build. Then when it was put to them at a 10% premium vs the competition, "No, I don't have that in the budget" was the general response.

So, we get trash because that's what we ask for and pay for. But thankfully, you can buy a transmission pan plug kit, or a new pan, or add a filter and drain, and all of those are probably better options for us while being worse options for the other 237 trucks that rolled off the lines that day.

 

[Grit dog]

I've run multiple vehicles from brand new to well over 200, 300, and one over 400k, and never changed a single fluid but the oil.

I could care less about drain plugs.

Amazing….
Rage bait, ignorance or filthy rich? Guessing not the latter as the vast majority of rich folks don’t run their vehicles 2-400k miles.