2001 Accord V6 Leaking drain plug

"Cherokee" wrote

It is in fact quite possible and very likely that they removed the plug incorrectly or, more likely as you suspect, overtorqued it upon re-installation.

Problem is, you can't prove something else was not behind this.

Give them your opinion and say, at some point, politely and firmly, that you feel very much taken advantage of and plan to speak to the BBB, for one. This might get some action, assuming you have good reason to suspect them of bad shop practices.

There have not been any significant number of reports of this here compared to previous years.

I think they're trying to take advantage of your lack of expertise on cars.

Ask these folks if they change the oil pan drain plug crush washer each time they do an oil change. Take notes on what they say and have a witness.

1. check out the parts price at hondaautomotiveparts.com. 0 is /way/ high.
2. threads are stripping because they're over-torquing.
3. they're over-torquing because someone's not trained properly or they're not changing the plug washer [or both]. if the washer was changed, the plug would hold at factory torque and be completely leak free.

you either need to find the time to go back to doing this yourself [which has the added benefit of you knowing /for sure/ what oil was used rather than just what you paid for] or find a different shop.

if you're anal, it's relatively easy to change the pan yourself. you'll save yourself a whole bunch of money and you have the security of knowing that the stripped threads aren't about to dump your lube all over the freeway.

I had a very hard time removing the drain plug for the first oil change on my '06 Acura, but I was very careful and didn't strip anything.

You would have been better off having the work done at the dealer, that way it would have either been a warranty problem or a dealer workmanship problem.

John