Thread: DIY: Oil Change
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Old 04-07-2020, 01:45 PM   #6
Frodo
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 1,999
I also have the same catch pan. First oil change I did in the Box (in about 2007) I had the drain plug fall into the opening (which now no longer qualified as an "opening"). Ended up with most of the old oil on the driveway, a MAJOR clean-up. I also have, on subsequent changes, had that huge splash seen on the video when the drain plug first comes out.

Tommy's modification is more elegant, but what I did works just fine as well—and was easier.

First off, right after the first change with the major driveway spill, I got my electric drill, attached the biggest bit I had (1/2") and drilled maybe a dozen holes in the gently sloped surface that surrounds the central hole that I accidentally plugged on my first attempt. So now, if I do the same bone-headed thing again (I haven't, so far) it really doesn't matter. The oil's got lots of other holes to drain downward into.

The second thing I did was to take a 1 gallon plastic milk carton and with a box cutter carefully cut out the bottom and just below the top, ie I removed the plastic handle and the small opening that had been used to pour milk out of. Now I had a "funnel" of sorts. It was actually just a square tube that's open at the top and bottom. Now, before I pull the drain plug, I center the carton over the central drain hole in the catch pan surface. I carefully align it so that when the gusher comes out it goes right into the carton, so the splash is contained and goes nowhere but down into the center hole (and the 1/2" holes I created). Has worked well. I still always place some newspaper below the catch pan, but I virtually never need it. I rarely spill a drop anymore.
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