So I changed my oil Saturday. I found out the drain plug didn't want to hold the oil anymore. I saw about 3 -5 drips in 30 minutes, which is kinda bad. I'm sligtly glad I had the issu with the tie rod, once getting the car in the air I soon found a very large puddle of brand new oil by my head....sitting from 3:00 in the after noon to about 10:30 that night left me with a puddle nearly 8 inches around

I had thought since the oil was going to be changed a week later i would just keep a close ey on it and have an extra quart of oil with me just in case, but once I saw that large puddle something had to be done now. but I didn't want to change the oil again.

My dad says we can do it without losing a drop of oil. and im like how. he wouldn't tell me he just said get your wrench and you'll see. He rolled the shop Vac out in front of the car and im like...ok...he pulls the valve cover cap off and puts the shop vac to it, and im like, you sure that'll hold it? he said get down and remove the plug. And sure enough the vacuume held the oil in and didn't suck any out, I didn't lose one drop, except for the oil on the plug itself. Put soem thread sealer on it real quick and another gasket and screwed it back in. Not a drop lose since....from the plug anyway...


has anyone ever tried that before, or heard the trick?

never heard of that. thats really cool. id say thats vid worthy.

I've seen the truck shop use a shop vac to change fittings on radiators without loosing any coolant, so I am not surprised that it can be used for changing oil drain plugs too.

Never heard of that. You could also remove the plug and cover the hole with your finger really quickly, and put it back in quickly. You wouldn't lose much. Of course you would have had to have someone else put the thread locker on it while you held your finger in place.

i thought it was hilarious, and my brother and mom came out into the garage when i was hurriedly trying to put the thread seal on the bolt and the look on their face

i wish the camera battery wasn't dead at the time, we'll have to do it again for the sake of doing it and catching it on video

Simple old farmer techniques.

There'* much we've forgotten over the years.

That'* awesome.
Sounds like something my-father-in-law would do.
Very cool.

When i was working at walmart, we would do that when a car came back with a plug leak. I thought everybody knew about it.

I too was like the first time they did it.

I wish I would have known about this trick two weeks ago. I had to remove the Fumato valve from our 2000 Grand Marquis and replace it with the original plug.

I used the "be real quick method" by removing the valve, slipping my finger over the hole, and plugging it with the plug.