Oops . . a little help?
 

So I just finished changing the oil on my 99 Boxster, or so I thought. Cleaning up, I found the little washer that should have been attached to the oil pan plug- any suggestions on what I need to do here? Am I looking at another oil change lol? Any idea what size the plug is if I wanted to get a bolt to insert in there temporarily?
Thanks,
Richard

That would be your crush washer, which you do need to put on.

Drain the oil into a clean drain pan, put the crush washer on the oil pan plug and then refill the car with the oil you just removed.

That's the only way to fix this. I'm betting you'll never dothat again, huh?

I was hoping the obvious solution wasn't the only one. . . oh well. .thanks!

Better than throwing out 9 qts of oil!

You're actually supposed to use a new crush washer each time, although you can usually get away with that indiscretion.

Quick fix is to let the car cool down if it is warm. Back out the bolt with the drain pan in place BUT DON'T FULLY REMOVE IT - just get it to the point where it starts to wiggle like there's only a few threads left. Get yourself positioned so you can stick a finger in the oil pan hole while you pull out the plug and put the washer on it. When ready, slip out your finger and stick the plug back in (with the washer this time :p) and tighten it down.

You're going to get a little dirty, but if you're fast you'll lose little oil and will save yourself a boatload of work.

That's exactly what I did a couple of years ago when I forgot the crush washer on one of my Kawasakis. My gf laid down on the garage floor and stuck her finger over the hole so I didn't lose but a small amount of oil. After that I knew I'd marry her.... wedding is October 5th. :D

That's a great story. Congrats!

Z.

Well....you could just flip the car over. With the drain plug on top, oil won't drain out. :dance:

Like UroTrash said, replace the crush washer every time. Just go to Pap-Parts and order a bunch to keep in the garage. I have enough of them for 200K miles of changes so I can't forget to order it with the filter.

Yea, I flipped it over but the neighbors complained I was scratching the asphalt, so I had to give up on that idea. And I don't think I could ever convince my girlfriend to lay underneath a car let alone stick her finger in the oil pan.
I ended up just letting it cool a bit and slipping the crush washer back on. I lost about a 1.25 quarts of oil, so it wasn't a huge deal. How big of a deal is it to re-use the old crush washer for another 5,000 miles?
Thanks for all your help!

Hi,

You can typically use a crush washer twice if you reverse it, which you may have inadvertently done. If it's not leaking, then it's good to go until your next Oil Service...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99