Quote:
Originally Posted by dddd
I would advise not worrying about much about OCI since the car has the computer always looking for worst-case variables of the sort that might shorten oil life.
But I wouldn't sleep well knowing there was a drain valve down there that might not take a debris strike well at all compared to the industry-standard drain plug bolt.
Seriously, some of these valves protrude quite a bit and are just hollow brass.
I believe that's why drain plugs are so big, not so as to drain faster, but to be able to take heavy torque so as to take a solid hit from a very solid who-knows-what that fell out of Bubba's truck up the road.
From personal experience, I've found dents in the rather heavy-gauge steel of more than one car's oil pan, and I'd like to think that the drain plug could take such a hit just as well.
The Fumoto valves are fine-looking hardware, but perhaps really suitable only for track use? Losing your oil on the roadway would trip the warning light and hopefully be seen quickly by the driver, but leaves the roadway in a possibly deadly condition for following drivers.
Some cars do position the drain plug well above the other low-hanging bits of the undercarriage, so I guess might be fine with a protruding valve.
I've been doing my oil draining via the dipstick tube using an electric-powered vacuum jug apparatus, which reaches the very bottom of the pan well below the top of the threaded drain bung. I still have to get under the Camry to swap the filter element out of the canister. But at least that only has to be done every second oil change.
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Neither drain valve has a 90-degree bend so they don't protrude under the plan. Plus one car has a 1/4in aluminum engine skid plate and the other car I replaced the felt under tray with a 5052 alloy under tray. If something gets through those I'll have bigger things to worry about.