MX-3.com

'93 MX-3 has been leaking a lot of oil. I haven't been able to crawl underneath it because my ramps seem to have disappeared. It looks like the oil is dripping from the area where the drain plug is, but I haven't been able to get under there yet. Is it common for the drain plug to get stripped out, etc, and leak a bunch of oil?

If it's a likely, common problem, thought about buying a replacement plug to see if that works, before taking the car to a repair shop.

* Someone told me if it looks like the old drain plug is stripped, you can buy a new one that's just a slightly larger size, and it might fix the threading issue....thoughts?

* Anyone remember off-hand what size socket the drain plug is?

Thanks!

check to see if there's crush washer there, it acts as a gasket.

You can buy the crush washers in copper or nylon.. either work.

But also, that is the lowest point on the engine, so any oil will drip from there, even if it originates above. The most likely thing is your oil pan gasket, which is just made from RTV, there is no actual gasket.

An update:

So, I paid a reputable mechanic $50 today to be told the issue:

Seems that recently when I got an oil change, they obviously did not completely tighten the drain plug, and did not put the oil filter on tightly. I remember they weren't even busy when I brought the car in for the oil change. Makes me wonder how much wear & tear on my engine resulted from their laziness. You know, sometimes I notice when you don't drive a nice car people don't give you respect, and this is one of those times.

This kinda crap didn't happen whenever I used to change my oil myself...

Then I suggest you start doing it yourself again

do ur own changes. only way to make sure it's done right.