Relocating the oil pan drain bolt?

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Rogue-AE95
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Relocating the oil pan drain bolt?

Postby Rogue-AE95 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 5:11 am

I can understand for the MR layout that the oil pan drain is probably in a more ideal location since you likely jack up the rear of an AW11 for an oil change. But for FWD setups, jacking up the front of the car means the oil pan drain plug is higher than the lowest part of the pan while the front end is in the air. I tend to take my wagon off the jack stands and lower it back to the ground in order to get the rest of the old oil out as it's draining.

Has anyone ever bothered to modify an oil pan, for 4A/7A-FE or 4A-GE, so that the drain was on the intake side? Is it worth the hassle to change it? Do I have the right idea of just taking the car off the stands and putting it back on the ground to allow the remaining old oil to drain out?

Asking because I tend to do my two cars' oil changes a week apart, and just did both. My other (FWD, non-Toyota) has the drain at the "back" of the pan, so I don't have to do anything but wait for the old oil to finish draining.
'88 Corolla All-Trac x2 (manual, auto)

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jondee86
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Re: Relocating the oil pan drain bolt?

Postby jondee86 » Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:15 pm

Considering the amount of work involved to do a proper job of relocating (or installing)
an extra) drain plug, the benefits probably don't justify the effort. If you had 3.5 liters
of oil in there and the extra that you could drain out was 35ml, then filling with new
oil would have a dilution factor of 100:1.

Assuming that your regular oil and filter changes keep the inside of your engine reasonably
clean, the impact of that little bit of old oil on the new oil fill would be negligible.

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

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Rogue-AE95
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Re: Relocating the oil pan drain bolt?

Postby Rogue-AE95 » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:11 pm

Thanks. I do have a friend who can weld & fabricate, so that's not a worry for me. I have an extra AE101 4A-FE oil pan sitting around, and I may have him modify it for me someday.

I'll have to take another look at a pan to see if it would really be effective. If anything, I was thinking about getting one of those spigot style drains and fit it to the intake side, while using a magnetic drain bolt in the standard location. That way I could remove & check the magnet on the bolt after the old oil drains.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UT822G
'88 Corolla All-Trac x2 (manual, auto)

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jondee86
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Re: Relocating the oil pan drain bolt?

Postby jondee86 » Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:34 pm

I guess if you have good ground clearance, and don't mind pulling the pan,
relocating the drain would be beneficial in getting any residue to flush out
with the draining oil. I drain the oil before the engine cools down to try and
get any debris out before it settles on the bottom of the pan. In theory all
the harmfull stuff should be in the filter, but yeah... that's me :)

The OEM plug location is recessed into the pan to reduce the chances of wiping
the plug off on an obstruction and dumping your oil prematurely. The drain
valve would be more susceptible to damage than a plug, so the engine would
need to be high enough in the frame to keep the valve out of harm's way.

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.