UPR Billet Oil Drain Plug - Thoughts?

[galaxy]

I’m on a mission. I don’t want to be able to say never driven in the rain. I want to be able to say still running original drain plug! 35K on mine and going strong.

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[ParmesanPrime]

Found this thread after the fact and too late to save myself, but I had the UPR drain plug (the newer updated version) fall out of my GT350 in the middle of a track day. It had been on the car for about 4500-5000 miles prior to this (including a drive from texas to North Carolina for Tail of the Dragon). During this trip, I thought my car was burning excessive amounts of oil (it burned through 10 quarts in a week/3800 miles, and yes i was constantly adding oil). Now I'm wondering if at least some of that was a leak from the drain plug.

I appreciate the concept and the build quality for the most part, but the claims that it cannot fall out are clearly based on incorrect information (or too small a sample size of GT350's)

I don't dislike UPR. I have an oil catch can that I'm extremely pleased with. But their plugs, at least for me, for whatever reason, can't be trusted to withstand track days. If its the temps or the pressures, and/or metal plug vs plastic pan, I dont know. And before you blame me for installing it incorrectly, how could it have stayed in for the preceding 5k miles? It worked fine for mundane street/highway driving.

 

[NPTR]

Found this thread after the fact and too late to save myself, but I had the UPR drain plug (the newer updated version) fall out of my GT350 in the middle of a track day. It had been on the car for about 4500-5000 miles prior to this (including a drive from texas to North Carolina for Tail of the Dragon). During this trip, I thought my car was burning excessive amounts of oil (it burned through 10 quarts in a week/3800 miles, and yes i was constantly adding oil). Now I'm wondering if at least some of that was a leak from the drain plug.

I appreciate the concept and the build quality for the most part, but the claims that it cannot fall out are clearly based on incorrect information (or too small a sample size of GT350's)

I don't dislike UPR. I have an oil catch can that I'm extremely pleased with. But their plugs, at least for me, for whatever reason, can't be trusted to withstand track days. If its the temps or the pressures, and/or metal plug vs plastic pan, I dont know. And before you blame me for installing it incorrectly, how could it have stayed in for the preceding 5k miles? It worked fine for mundane street/highway driving.

Damn, really sorry to hear about this...unfortunate...but appreciate you sharing your experience...hopefully folks will search and read through all these posts before making their own decision. On the bright side, like you said, hopefully that puts an end to your consumption fears!

 

[Inthehighdesert]

Sorry, I have a hard time with the ten quarts in a week. The car would of been up on a lift and been checked. Cant imagine there wasn’t some oil on the ground. As for how did it make it 4500-5k miles and then fail. Track days are nothing like street use. This isn’t defending UPR or saying you didn’t install it correctly, but I’ve never put a car or bike on a track without pretty much going over the whole thing. It’s just a recipe for a bad day. Atleast in the end there wasn’t a catastrophic failure which is the most important thing.

Found this thread after the fact and too late to save myself, but I had the UPR drain plug (the newer updated version) fall out of my GT350 in the middle of a track day. It had been on the car for about 4500-5000 miles prior to this (including a drive from texas to North Carolina for Tail of the Dragon). During this trip, I thought my car was burning excessive amounts of oil (it burned through 10 quarts in a week/3800 miles, and yes i was constantly adding oil). Now I'm wondering if at least some of that was a leak from the drain plug.

I appreciate the concept and the build quality for the most part, but the claims that it cannot fall out are clearly based on incorrect information (or too small a sample size of GT350's)

I don't dislike UPR. I have an oil catch can that I'm extremely pleased with. But their plugs, at least for me, for whatever reason, can't be trusted to withstand track days. If its the temps or the pressures, and/or metal plug vs plastic pan, I dont know. And before you blame me for installing it incorrectly, how could it have stayed in for the preceding 5k miles? It worked fine for mundane street/highway driving.

 

[NPTR]

Sorry, I have a hard time with the ten quarts in a week. The car would of been up on a lift and been checked. Cant imagine there wasn’t some oil on the ground. As for how did it make it 4500-5k miles and then fail. Track days are nothing like street use. This isn’t defending UPR or saying you didn’t install it correctly, but I’ve never put a car or bike on a track without pretty much going over the whole thing. It’s just a recipe for a bad day. Atleast in the end there wasn’t a catastrophic failure which is the most important thing.

I am pretty sure that 10 quarts was over 3800 miles in one road trip. If the issue is heat / variations in material expansion, that would happen “on the go” so if that’s a cause of the issue the oil would be somewhere on the highway. If he was hotel to hotel you may not notice it either if it sealed back up after the temps cooled. Will leave it to him to fully explain but that was my read of it. And since the failures are seemingly happening mostly on track at high temps, that variable expansion theory could have some weight.

 

[WItoTX]

I have a upr plug, love it. I change the o rings probably every 4 oil changes, or if I see a little bit of seepage on the pan.

I inspect my car pretty thoroughly before track events. Never worried about it coming out, but if I did, I'd just run a wire through the hole to keep it in place.

Awesome plug, more robust, and having the magnet is just another way to help the filter get rid of any metal that might float around in the pan otherwise.

That said, I also ran the factory plug for several events, and have zero issues with it, other than no magnet.

 

[ParmesanPrime]

I am pretty sure that 10 quarts was over 3800 miles in one road trip. If the issue is heat / variations in material expansion, that would happen “on the go” so if that’s a cause of the issue the oil would be somewhere on the highway. If he was hotel to hotel you may not notice it either if it sealed back up after the temps cooled. Will leave it to him to fully explain but that was my read of it. And since the failures are seemingly happening mostly on track at high temps, that variable expansion theory could have some weight.

You're correct. After day 3 I noticed I had no oil on the dipstick, ended up adding 6 quarts to get it back to full. After day 5 I added another 2 quarts, and one more quart before driving home and one quart after getting back home. The car has burned oil in the past, sure, but never that much and only since using the UPR plug.

There was never any oil on the floor of my garage or parking spaces over the course of the week. Assuming it was leaking from around the plug (which I suspect but can't confirm) it had to have been while driving and the engine/oil was warmed up. There's no damage to the oil pan itself as far as I can tell but I'm having that checked out by a professional.

Attached is a pic of the ptype of plug I had.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

That’s a lot of oil to leak and not leave any signs under the car. You should see it around the pan itself as well as on the underside of the body. If my fumoto’s come the slightest bit from full torque the evidence is everywhere. Especially on a deisel.

You're correct. After day 3 I noticed I had no oil on the dipstick, ended up adding 6 quarts to get it back to full. After day 5 I added another 2 quarts, and one more quart before driving home and one quart after getting back home. The car has burned oil in the past, sure, but never that much and only since using the UPR plug.

There was never any oil on the floor of my garage or parking spaces over the course of the week. Assuming it was leaking from around the plug (which I suspect but can't confirm) it had to have been while driving and the engine/oil was warmed up. There's no damage to the oil pan itself as far as I can tell but I'm having that checked out by a professional.

Attached is a pic of the ptype of plug I had.

 

[ParmesanPrime]

That’s a lot of oil to leak and not leave any signs under the car. You should see it around the pan itself as well as on the underside of the body. If my fumoto’s come the slightest bit from full torque the evidence is everywhere. Especially on a deisel.

A fair point, which leads me to believe it was only leaking while at operating temperature while being driven. When it cooled, the oil pan shrank down enough to make a decent seal again, thus no mess on the driveway. If the engine was actually burning off that much oil surely there would have been smoke or something in my exhaust and there was none. This is just my theory, though. I can't prove that's what happened, and the plug is now lost to the wilds of Oklahoma so I couldn't inspect it after the fact.

 

[chuckhammer]

This is the one I've been using in my Gen 3 Coyote. It's been fine so far but is a revised version, I guess. No tracks days yet and my motor won't vibrate like a Voodoo so apples and oranges.

 

[UPRjoe]

Found this thread after the fact and too late to save myself, but I had the UPR drain plug (the newer updated version) fall out of my GT350 in the middle of a track day. It had been on the car for about 4500-5000 miles prior to this (including a drive from texas to North Carolina for Tail of the Dragon). During this trip, I thought my car was burning excessive amounts of oil (it burned through 10 quarts in a week/3800 miles, and yes i was constantly adding oil). Now I'm wondering if at least some of that was a leak from the drain plug.

I appreciate the concept and the build quality for the most part, but the claims that it cannot fall out are clearly based on incorrect information (or too small a sample size of GT350's)

I don't dislike UPR. I have an oil catch can that I'm extremely pleased with. But their plugs, at least for me, for whatever reason, can't be trusted to withstand track days. If its the temps or the pressures, and/or metal plug vs plastic pan, I dont know. And before you blame me for installing it incorrectly, how could it have stayed in for the preceding 5k miles? It worked fine for mundane street/highway driving.

(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)
UPR Products 3025-04 Speed oil drain valve Extreme torture testing video!

To clear the air, we have tens of thousands of UPR Ford Billet Aluminum Oil Drain Plugs and UPR Ford Billet Aluminum Oil Drain Valves on the road without issue. We see plenty of Coyote and EcoBoost engines that burn excessive amounts of oil and plenty of track cars that eat or burn oil through the PCV system.

Either way, your car seems to be burning more oil than anything I have encountered. Also, has a magic oil containment system that hides oil spills when it leaks out? You'll always have oil somewhere on the bell housing or undercarriage if oil is leaking while driving. Oil will spray everywhere. Or if it's in the garage, the floor will have oil on it.

Unless the new style 3025-04 was not fully twisted and locked in place, normal driving will not build enough crankcase pressure to blow the UPR Oil speed drain valve plug out. I am not trying to flame, but I have to elaborate on our design as we have a few hundred hours of testing in multiple cars and trucks ranging from stock to 20psi.

The UPR Ford Speed Oil Drain Valve and UPR Ford Oil Drain Plug and o-rings are specifically sized to Ford Plastic Oil Pans as we've encountered a lot of tolerance variation with the Factory Plastic Oil Pans and had to be sure that we designed our product to work at the high or low end of the tolerance variation that The Ford Plastic Oil Pans have.

This is what would have held the drain plug in place for 5000 miles when incorrectly installed.
(The Tight fit with Double O-Ring will stay dry on the outside and the inside o-ring pushes oil back. As well as the tight fit of the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve when you install it to 80% and do not firmly press it in the last 20 to engage the lock correctly.)

The UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve is designed to lock up on the tabs inside the oil pan slot using a wave lock spring to set locking pressure once properly installed. If a plastic plug fits and stays in your oil pan, then the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve will Absolutely perform without question.

Either way, I'm sorry to hear about your mishap.

NOTE: You have to twist the UPR Oil Drain Valve until it stops, and then push in and twist to get over the tabs at the last 20% of the rotation and release to lock it in place. It cannot be removed unless you press it in firmly to allow the pockets in the slot to clear the tabs inside the oil pan. When removing, do not let the rotational force compress the spring. It has to be firmly pushed in before full rotation for proper installation, and removal must be firmly pushed in to allow the locking grooves in the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve to clear the tabs and release.

(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)
UPR Products 3025-04 Speed oil drain valve Extreme torture testing!

Joe@UPR

 

[JAJ]

(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)
UPR Products 3025-04 Speed oil drain valve Extreme torture testing video!

To clear the air, we have tens of thousands of UPR Ford Billet Aluminum Oil Drain Plugs and UPR Ford Billet Aluminum Oil Drain Valves on the road without issue. We see plenty of Coyote and EcoBoost engines that burn excessive amounts of oil and plenty of track cars that eat or burn oil through the PCV system.

Either way, your car seems to be burning more oil than anything I have encountered. Also, has a magic oil containment system that hides oil spills when it leaks out? You'll always have oil somewhere on the bell housing or undercarriage if oil is leaking while driving. Oil will spray everywhere. Or if it's in the garage, the floor will have oil on it.

Unless the new style 3025-04 was not fully twisted and locked in place, normal driving will not build enough crankcase pressure to blow the UPR Oil speed drain valve plug out. I am not trying to flame, but I have to elaborate on our design as we have a few hundred hours of testing in multiple cars and trucks ranging from stock to 20psi.

The UPR Ford Speed Oil Drain Valve and UPR Ford Oil Drain Plug and o-rings are specifically sized to Ford Plastic Oil Pans as we've encountered a lot of tolerance variation with the Factory Plastic Oil Pans and had to be sure that we designed our product to work at the high or low end of the tolerance variation that The Ford Plastic Oil Pans have.

This is what would have held the drain plug in place for 5000 miles when incorrectly installed.
(The Tight fit with Double O-Ring will stay dry on the outside and the inside o-ring pushes oil back. As well as the tight fit of the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve when you install it to 80% and do not firmly press it in the last 20 to engage the lock correctly.)

The UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve is designed to lock up on the tabs inside the oil pan slot using a wave lock spring to set locking pressure once properly installed. If a plastic plug fits and stays in your oil pan, then the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve will Absolutely perform without question.

Either way, I'm sorry to hear about your mishap.

NOTE: You have to twist the UPR Oil Drain Valve until it stops, and then push in and twist to get over the tabs at the last 20% of the rotation and release to lock it in place. It cannot be removed unless you press it in firmly to allow the pockets in the slot to clear the tabs inside the oil pan. When removing, do not let the rotational force compress the spring. It has to be firmly pushed in before full rotation for proper installation, and removal must be firmly pushed in to allow the locking grooves in the UPR Speed Oil Drain Valve to clear the tabs and release.

(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)----------(Click Link Below)
UPR Products 3025-04 Speed oil drain valve Extreme torture testing!

Joe@UPR

This is painful.

First, the video is an insult to your customers, your engineers and to people who've had the plugs fall out. If it's supposed to be a gag, well, it's just not funny.

It is a fact that your plugs fall out of Voodoo's. Nobody knows why, but it's happened a number of times. And while you'd love to blame the customers with "you didn't install it correctly", that gets old fast.

The Voodoo has a strong second order vibration at twice the engine RPM. It shakes the entire structure of the engine side-to-side at between about 30 Hertz at idle and 275 Hertz at red line. It was enough cyclical motion to spin a properly installed oil filter off a Voodoo development engine in a Ford dyno test cell, and it spun the properly installed oil filter off of a GM LT6 Corvette engine in it's dyno cell. Do not ever assume that something that works on a Coyote or an Ecoboost will work on a Voodoo without proper testing. And if the video is your testing, well, it's no wonder they fall out.

 

[UPRjoe]

This is painful.

First, the video is an insult to your customers, your engineers and to people who've had the plugs fall out. If it's supposed to be a gag, well, it's just not funny.

It is a fact that your plugs fall out of Voodoo's. Nobody knows why, but it's happened a number of times. And while you'd love to blame the customers with "you didn't install it correctly", that gets old fast.

The Voodoo has a strong second order vibration at twice the engine RPM. It shakes the entire structure of the engine side-to-side at between about 30 Hertz at idle and 275 Hertz at red line. It was enough cyclical motion to spin a properly installed oil filter off a Voodoo development engine in a Ford dyno test cell, and it spun the properly installed oil filter off of a GM LT6 Corvette engine in it's dyno cell. Do not ever assume that something that works on a Coyote or an Ecoboost will work on a Voodoo without proper testing. And if the video is your testing, well, it's no wonder they fall out.

This is not an insult, as it showcases that it will not fall out when properly installed. You can start whatever flame fest you want, but that's not my point. I am very familiar with the voodoo and it harmonic issues. That's why I know a vibration will not cause the new UPR Ford Speed Oil Drain Valve to fall out.

I am referencing the voodoo, not just as a GT or Ecoboost. These are on hundreds of Voodoo's that we've had previous customers upgrade to the new 3025-04 design from the original 3025-02 just so they wouldn't have to worry about any issues. That was Voodoo was our primary target as I gave these to our customers to put them through the motions with the 5.2 engine.

The video shows how badly you can abuse a properly installed UPR Ford Speed Oil Drain Valve. So go ahead and keep trying to defend someone's mishap, as they never meant to do it, I'm sure. But the case is that it just did not seat the tabs into the recessed locking groove.

Thank you for your input, but nothing you said applies to the point we are trying to make about how secure and strong the new design locks in place on the tabs with a wave lock washer. Out of courtesy, I will not engage in these types of posts, as they are counterproductive for fellow enthusiasts.

Have a great night, Joe@UPR

 

[ParmesanPrime]

Blame me if you feel you have to, but your install instructions aren't exactly rocket science... Pretty sure I got it right.

Your private message asked if I "...could test the drain plug in your oil pan without oil so you can install it without any interference and see just how the unit locks in place and will never fail." As I said in my previous post, the plug fell out during a track event and is lost. Unless you're sending me a new one (which I don't expect nor want), I have nothing to test.

I've since had the oil pan off the car now, and the threads/lugs on the oil pan itself were stripped, which it's safe to say contributed to the plug falling out. Now what could have caused the threads/lugs to be worn down enough to be unable to hold the drain plug in? I'm not blaming the UPR plug because I don't have enough info. I will say say that particular issue never occurred when using the OEM plugs.

 

[UPRjoe]

It's not about blaming you; it's just about explaining how it works and what I've duplicated repeatedly. I will send you a new 3025-04 plug, as I am 100% sure it does not fail and will only fall out over time if it's not locked in place. I am more concerned with proving our reliability and giving you confidence in our newest patent pending positive locking design.

I'm glad you pointed out that the instructions were unclear. When I saw what you encountered, we immediately updated the instructions to ensure this will never happen again. Also, so you know, your voice mattered in our fast reaction to updating the instructions.

Either way, if you could give me your information and shipping address, I would like to send you a replacement, a UPR T-shirt, and decals. Please let me know your size so we can ship this stuff out to you today.

I'm sorry if you took it as blaming you. I suspect it was more of a lack of knowledge of the function.

I hope we can get you on track and gain your confidence.

I will post the instructions when I get to UPR.

Joe@UPR

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