"jim beam" <nospam@example.net> wrote in message
news:a5GdnV-wCtg-9rrZnZ2dnUVZ_vadnZ2d@speakeasy.net...
> mpwilliams wrote:
>> If you want your Honda Accord's oil pan to last as long as the engine
>> it's bolted to, make a firm commitment, now, to always have your oil
>> changed at a Honda dealership. The cost is the same - sometimes less -
>> than at the quick oil change stores, and the Honda dealer will always
>> change the 5 cent zinc washer on the drain plug, something the oil change
>> stores will never do.
>
> it's aluminum, not zinc. and in my experience, dealer oil changes are
> delegated to the least skilled person in the shop who is just as capable
> of screwing it up as monkeylube.

You're correct, the drain plug washer is aluminum, not zinc. Be that as it
may, the point is that it will always be (and should always be) replaced
with every oil change at a Honda dealer, and it will never be changed in a
million years if you get your oil changes at a 'monkeylube', as you call
them.

>> Your Honda Accord has an aluminum alloy oil pan with a steel drain plug,
>
> most oil pans are steel - to withstand road debris damage.

We're not talking about most oil pans ... we're talking about the oil pans
that come as factory equipment on a new Honda Accord - in particular, a 2006
Honda Accord - and they are manufactured from aluminum alloy.

>> and the zinc washer, which is quite deformable compared to the aluminum
>> alloy, protects the drain hole threads from stretching (and, eventually,
>> stripping) when the plug is snugged up; when the threads have stripped,
>> that's it for your $400+ oil pan.
>
> steel is $37.73 retail.

Your point?

>> The false economy and dubious convenience of quick oil change stores
>> retired the original oil pan on my 1988 Honda Accord at about 60,000
>> miles (changing oil every 5,000 miles);
>
> dealers rarely use honda oil, so what's the point?

My point is that it's the failure of the quick lube shops to replace the
aluminum drain plug washer with each oil change (or ever in a million oil
changes) that causes the drain-hole threads on a Honda Accord's aluminum
alloy oil pan to become stretched and, eventually, stripped ... the nature
of the motor oil provided may be important from a number of other points of
view, but it is completely and totally irrelevant to the problem of stripped
drain-hole threads on aluminum alloy oil pans.

>
>> the oil pan on my mother's 1995 Honda Accord was done in at 40,000 miles
>> (roughly the same change frequency).
>
> all that says is that it was messed up, and that can happen anywhere.

Theoretically, yes, it could happen anywhere. As a practical matter,
however, it doesn't happen just anywhere ... it happens with regularity
among Honda Accord owners who have made a habit of frequenting the quick
lube establishments, and it almost never happens among Honda Accord owners
who never have their oil changed anywhere but the service department at
Honda dealership.

> i've watched dealers do it may times. the crx i got at 305k miles was on
> its original oil pan and had never been serviced at a dealer its whole
> life - i had the full service history. according to your dictum, the pan
> should have been replaced many times. it all comes down to having it done
> right, and that is a function of training & skill of the technician, /not/
> the name on the door of the shop.

Right, and the Honda service technicians are trained to change the aluminum
drain plug gasket with each and every oil change, while the 'technicians' at
quick lube establishments are *not* trained to change the aluminum drain
plug gasket ever in a million years. It's just that simple.