Also if the aluminum pan is damaged and every oil change was done at Honda
shop, Honda should cover the tab.


"mpwilliams" <m.p.williams@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:BNXVf.5598$HW2.3144@newsread3.news.pas.earthl ink.net...
> "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.
>