Slight oil leak...

[Okie Boarder]

So I noticed some oil leaking into the bilge the other day. I found root cause of the oil drain plug. For anyone that didn't see my other thread, I put a regular drain plug in after breaking the elbow and hose drain set up. The oil drain plug I got has a plastic washer / gasket. Last night I thought I'd snug it up and when I did it turned quite a bit.

I'm wondering...

Should I have put teflon tape or other thread sealant on?

Should I be using a different sort of washer / gasket?

Thoughts?

[wotan2525]

Sounds to me like it wasn't tight enough to begin with. I've never heard of anyone using anything but sheer torque to keep a drain plug in.

[cadunkle]

Just don't crank it too tight, would be a pain to strip the threads. Check to be sure the oil pan surface is clean around the bolt hole and that it is flat, not bent or dinged.

[sybrmike]

If just re-tightening doesn't work, I'd try a copper washer like used on fuel fittings. Stiff enough to take some torque yet soft enough to seal against the harder steel.

[Okie Boarder]

Thanks guys.

I was careful not to overtighten. I'll watch it to see what it does and if it starts leaking again, I'll look into the copper washer. I'm hoping I don't need to do anything more than tighten it. Don't want to have to change the oil again.

[csuggs]

How do you drain your oil? Do you not have a hose coming from your oil pan?

[Okie Boarder]

No, I broke the fitting in the fall and couldn't find a way to replace it without lifting the motor. I just put a regular drain plug in and I'm getting a Pela pump next time I do an oil change. I'll use the pump to suck the oil out of the dipstick.