Really dumb oil change question,,but have to know !!

[Erik727]

Just bought this 99 Eddie Bauer 4.0 SOHC 2 months ago ,,found it on a Ford dealers lot,,they gave me a fresh oil change before i took delivery ..Doing 1rst oil change on it now..Drain plug seem to have a small leak ,,so i bought a vehicle specific one from o'reilly. Came with a new oring on it....Just dumped the oil and old plug did not have an oring on it...Looking at the oil pan ,,there looks to be an oring squished in there ,,but i cant seem to pick it out...What exactly is the drain plug set up on these things...I'll keep working to get it out if it needs to come out,,but dont want to screw anything up....I'll go put the filter on now and come back and ck on what anyone has to say....Thanks,

Erik

 

[Erik727]

Thats definitely not an oring stuck on the pan. Its metal,and black in color..Tried putting the new plug back in with the oring on it by hand ,and all it will do is squish the oring...?? I've never seen a bolt or plug with an oring that didn't have an indentation or land ,for the oring to seat into.

 

[yavapaires]

Thats definitely not an oring stuck on the pan. Its metal,and black in color..Tried putting the new plug back in with the oring on it by hand ,and all it will do is squish the oring...?? I've never seen a bolt or plug with an oring that didn't have an indentation or land ,for the oring to seat into.

I don't remember what my 96 4.0 OHV has on the drain plug. I think it a nylon gasket, not an o-ring. Is your oil pan flat where the drain plug fits? If so, all you should need is the nylon gasket. I have NO experience with the OHC engine. And you need to at least drain the oil out of the filter, if I read your post correctly, and you have put the new filter on already. You will have a quart of old oil contaminating your oil change.

 

[Sedition]

The SOHC Explorer does not have an oring on the oil drain plug bolt, the 13mm bolt has sort of a skirt on it that seals up against the bolt hole.

I recomend taking the bottom oil pan off at the very least to identify the metal part inside. Its 10x 10mm bolts. Besides you really should not have stray metal inside your motor. Post a picture of it or just decribe it best you can and we will tell you what it is and if its important.

 

[daw00l]

as sedition said, pretty much all fords have that style drainplug with the skirt around it. The gasket is integrated and you shouldn't need to use one unless you have a crappy aftermarket plug. As for the piece of metal inside the pan, ive never seen anything like that before and I work at a quick lube shop so I see about 40 cars a day.