Man I headed outside to do an all fluids change on our pilot this morning thinking it wouldn't be a bad job since it only has 40,000 miles on it........ Boy was I wrong. I changed the oil which went as expected with no issues. I have been running Mobil 1 synthetic and Bosch premium filters since we bought it with no issues. Went to change the transmission fluid and had one heck of a time getting the plug out of the transmission to drain it. I finally got it loose with a 1/2" breaker bar and a dead blow hammer. Then I went to fill the tranny and holy crap the only way to get transmission fluid in that thing is through a 1/4" ID dipstick tube. I couldn't find any way to get it filled after a half an hour of messing with it I finally had to drive to town in the truck and get some tiny tubing and a funnel and build my own contraption to get down inside the engine compartment since the dipstick tube is buried 3 feet deep in the engine compartment. Finally made it to the back end to drain and fill the differential and figured out you have to remove the spare tire so you can put an extension through the frame members to remove the drain and fill plug. So once I got all that removed I ran into the same issue with the plugs on the differential where I couldn't break them loose. I mean those things wouldn't budge!!! I broke a 3/8" ratchet and finally went back to a 1/2" breaker bar and adapted it down to 3/8". I tried everything from dead blow hammers to an 18" cheater bar on the breaker bar. I finally broke and grabbed the biggest 1/2" impact gun and got the filler plug to break loose. Then I switched to drain plug and had to switch between hammering on the plug with the impact gun and trying to break it loose with the breaker and cheater bar. After about 40 minutes of that it broke loose and sounded like a gunshot when it happened. For the life of me I can't come up with any reason that those plugs should have been that tight I mean why on earth would they need to be? I definitely did not tighten them down like that when i put them back on. I don't know how they got them in that tight without stripping the threads on the cast aluminum housings or busting the housings themselves. O well I got all fluids and filters changed today without breaking anything so that was a success I guess.
There's your answer. Aluminum expands and contracts at a greater rate than the steel drain plugs. So not only do you have dissimilar metals corroding together, the aluminum housing gets a firm grip on the plug when it's cold. Guessing you did the work on a cold vehicle and not after driving it a while. Learned about this the hard way when I busted off the head of a glow plug on my GMC. Steel glow plugs and aluminum heads aren't a good combination on a cold day. Next time, warm it up and do the fluids in the summer time. At least you didn't break anything other than an easily replaceable tool.
Yeah I'm aware of the expansion contraction rates of the metals and corrosion of dissimilar materials. I took it on a 45 minute drive into town and back right before changing the fluids to make sure everything was warmed up and flowing well. I was wondering whether I had some galvanic corrosion however it didn't appear that way as all surfaces of the bolt washer and housing were clean and shiny. It was definitely weird I guess when I do it again in 30,000 miles I will find out but I'm guessing it will bust loose alot easier than this time? I'm hoping that after having done it once and dealing with those issues that maybe I can get it done in 1/4 of the time the next time around. The good thing was all fluids looked and smelled like new. Sometimes I really wonder if the differentials need changed every 30,000 but I guess it's cheap insurance. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Nobody changes different fluid every 30k. we all like to pretend like we do though. I do way more PM and fluid than most people and I can say I don't do it that often. that said I did it on my sequoia when it was new to me at like 150k
I don't think you're ever supposed to change the fluids in a Honda. Heck, my dad used to change the oil in his old Civic about every 30k with regular dino oil and it made it to 280k miles before the engine was toast. J/K, I've always had manual transmissions where a transmission fluid change is good for like 90k miles. Auto's are different, especially when a simple drain and refill only gets about 60% of the old fluid out. Hopefully when I change out my wife's CRV's tranny fluid this winter the plugs aren't stuck that bad!
Dumb question from me on this - would there be any kind of anti-seize compound to put on the threads? Or would that be a no-no with dissimilar metals?
Anti seize is a very good idea with dissimilar metals. would have solved most of the Ford Triton engine broken plug debackle! Many times they might have some sort of thread sealant on a pipe plug I have found.
I thought about it but decided to wait and see how it goes the next time I change it. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I do a ton of PM and I am actually pretty religious about it but I know so many people with +200,000 miles on their vehicle and the only thing they have ever done is change the engine oil that it makes you wonder. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I took my Saturn to about 250k before it dropped compression on a cylinder. I believe it had a cracked ring. I had to many vehicles to bother with it so I sold it off. my ranger that's in my avatar, is basically mostly retired now but still drives fine and did when I stopped driving it daily. It has 307k on it and original motor as far as I know. I don't think I ever did different fluid in it, I have had it like 12 years and 160k miles or so.
Word of advice if you ever put never seize on the threads of anything with temp variations ! Use high temp copper. I've seen the silver funk up that I've had to use 3/4 or 1" impact to get chit apart. I quit using the silver 10 years ago and haven't regretted the $5 extra it costs a can one bit !
I wouldn't bother with anti-seize. As long as the bolts are torqued right they should break free fine, I'm guessing someone used an impact when these were installed last.
Just a thought if you have trouble with something like an axle plug again....I've used pressure from a floor jack on the end of a breaker bar before when I couldn't break something free by hand or with an impact. The rear axle pinion nut torque spec on my truck is 220-500 ft-lbs!!! At the time I worked out all the time and was pretty strong, but I didn't have a prayer of breaking that loose! Even with the jack my breaker bar had about 20° of flex before it finally popped free!
A map torch used with common sense and good air tools solve 99℅ of messing with stuff. What is this preventative maintenance thing?
I think most automotive manufacturers now use 800 lb gorillas to torque down any parts that will be required to be removed for routine maintenance. This includes lug nuts, oil filters, drain plugs, and spark plugs. This has been my experience anyway.
