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mikes2017gt

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So...the low-profile plug got me. I took another look under the car and actually, the oil drain plug isn't the lowest point on the undercarriage. It's higher up than the Steeda G-Trac brace and I think some of the front suspension bits. The low-profile plug won't stick out any further than the stock drain plug.

I ordered directly from the FEMCO website. I ordered one low-profile kit and one low-profile plug. Pic of my order attached.

FEMCO drain plug order.JPG
The Mustang and the F150 both have Coyote engine variants and both use a M12-1.75 drain plug...convenient. I just hope this newfangled thing doesn't leak. Other than that, I'm sure it will be very useful come oil change time. In fact, on the truck I should no longer need the oil drain pan. I should be able to fit the 5-gallon bucket under the oil pan and drain directly into it, thus making oil changes that much quicker and neater. On the Mustang I'll still need the oil drain pan, but splashing should be greatly reduced. We'll see how it all works out. :)
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HoosierDaddy

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@HoosierDaddy : Is the pin that keeps the oil from draining out spring-loaded, or is it just gravity/weight of oil that keeps the valve closed when the drain fitting isn't on there?
It's spring-loaded. And the dust cap has an o-ring seal.
 
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mikes2017gt

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My FEMCO drain plugs are supposed to be delivered on Thursday. Just in time to change the oil on the truck this weekend. I just changed the oil in the Mustang last weekend...that plug will be installed next time, a few months from now.
 

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@HoosierDaddy I received my Femco plugs today. They don't appear to open up very much at all when you screw the drainer tube on. Maybe the opening under the little o-ring is 1/16" high? Both my valves (same part#) are like that. Is this normal? Is it going to take an hour to drain the oil? Thanks.
 

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@HoosierDaddy I received my Femco plugs today. They don't appear to open up very much at all when you screw the drainer tube on. Maybe the opening under the little o-ring is 1/16" high? Both my valves (same part#) are like that. Is this normal? Is it going to take an hour to drain the oil? Thanks.
I never checked for the compact small-base (SB) valve I have in my Mustang but it dosn't sound right. Below is a picture from my thread of a non-compact valve open and it is much more than 1/16 inch but that type of valve has more threads for the cap/drainer so therefore could allow more movement. I wish I had pictures of the valves we are actually using. Per that thread, Femco exchanged that valve for a compact one when it turned out they did have a compact valve the right size. When I first ordered, they only showed a full size valve with the optimum thread length. I can say, the oil drains just fine with mine but I don't have a time because I typically go do something else while it drains so I get as much as possible as it drains down from the heads, etc. The flow from the hose when I open it up is good. Not open-drain-plug good so it does take longer with any valve.

The last post in my thread has contact info. You might want to confirm with Femco (not the new name of the US distributor) they are opening enough.

Any chance you could post a pic of one of yours fully open?

26811387254_4a58db2697_h.jpg
 

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mikes2017gt

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My opening looks nothing like yours. (There's surely a joke in there somewhere....)

Your reply makes perfect sense. There are only a few threads for the opener to thread onto, therefore the plunger isn't pushed open much at all. I bought two of these: Compact SB 7090010153 M12 x 1.75-T9

Here's the valve in it's closed state.
Valve.jpg


And open. The drainer is screwed on tight.
valve open.jpg


I may contact Femco and see if they'll exchange/credit me back for the full size valves. That opening is ridiculous. It will take an hour to drain 2 gallons of oil. :(

*edit*
If I really crank the drainer on there tight, I can get it maybe another 1/32" open...literally just a hair more. I tried manually pushing up the drainer into the valve bottom (not screwing it on) and the drainer literally only goes "so far"into the valve body. I don't think it's physically possible to get these compact valves to open any more than what you see here. That said, I have no idea how long it will actually take to drain 2 gallons of oil. I usually let the oil drip out until only a drop or two a second comes out of the drain pan...with this thing it may be hard to tell how empty exactly the drain pan is. Now, with the very short thread body that goes up into the pan, I'm pretty the opening of the valve will sit flush with the bottom of the pan, so that's not an issue...just how little it actually opens concerns me. Not sure what I"m going to do at this point; keep them and see what happens or return both for the full size valves.
 
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HoosierDaddy

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Something may be wrong with the drainer. If I am seeing your picture right, it looks like the drainer is not screwed on all the way to the black o-ring. I never paid close attention to the compact valves like you and I have but the full size system drainer screws down to the black o-ring and can't imagine why the compact would not do the same.

I can't understand what's keeping the drainer from screwing completely onto the valve. I think you said it was the same for both valves you bought so more likely something happening with the drainer.

Your part number is right for the valve. I don't know the drainer part number but there are only 4 families of screw on valves, and I don't think any of them have the same thread size/pitch, so if it screws on at all, should be the right one.

Can you get a pic looking down the barrel of the drainer and also of the valve with the drainer off it? Something is keeping the drainer from screwing all the way onto the valve which means it won't open all the way. Look at my pic of the full size valve. The drainer is screwed all the way down to the valve body black o-ring. Should be the same for any family of the valves. Your picture looks like the drainer is barely half way screwed on (if that).
 

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I agree with you that something is off. Obviously, the valve isn't attached to an oil pan, but I got the drainer on there as tightly as I could. Turned it until my fingers holding the valve hurt from the edges of the hex nut.

Here's the pics you asked for. I'm stumped. I'm going to email these to FEMCO (if I can attach pics) and ask them if this is normal. The valve does push up farther than this when you push up with your finger.

Drain tube
IMG_20181024_193908660.jpg


valve
IMG_20181024_194013238.jpg


Drain attached and on there tight
IMG_20181024_194131735.jpg
 

mikes2017gt

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I emailed FEMCO and attached the pics. We'll see what they say. Right now, I'm not comfortable installing these on either the Mustang or the F150. I'm sure they will "work" but if it takes 2 hours to drain the oil, that doesn't qualify as "working well" in my book.
 

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I emailed FEMCO and attached the pics. We'll see what they say. Right now, I'm not comfortable installing these on either the Mustang or the F150. I'm sure they will "work" but if it takes 2 hours to drain the oil, that doesn't qualify as "working well" in my book.
I would NOT install them either.

I am certain the drainer should bottom out when screwed onto the valve. That gap between the drainer and the valve when you screw it down equates to that amount of lost travel for the moving part in the valve.
 
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mikes2017gt

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@HoosierDaddy

How embarrassing. The fix was simple, but I didn't think of it initially. I received a very nice reply back from FEMCO in less than 24 hours. Here's what it said:

The valve and the drainer hose connector should be higher. Normal application should push the valve to its max height, see attached picture. I don’t think the one you received is defective, it may need a little bit of oil on the thread, plug and inside the connector. If you have some WD-40 or other lubricate, apply it and it should work smooth. If it doesn’t, I will mail you another set and include a return envelope for the one you have now. Also, please share with me the year, make, model and engine type of your equipment.
I liberally sprayed the drain tube threads and the plug threads with WD40 and it popped right on and threads all the way up. The valve opening is now approx 1/3" and I'm good with that. Very good customer service that they offered to exchange them right off the bat, but that won't be necessary. Thanks, FEMCO. :)

So, looks like I'll be installing one on the truck this weekend. That'll give me a couple of months to easily evaluate the plug for leaks...I can see the drain plug just by bending down and peering under the truck...don't even need to climb under it. I'll report back how that goes. I'm assuming all will be well and I'll install the other on the Mustang when the time comes, but time will tell.
 

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Glad it was fixed with some lube. Am surprised it needed any.
 

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The o-ring on the drainer is a really tight fit into the bottom of the valve body. That's what was keeping the drainer from threading on. Seems kind of overkill to me to ensure the drainer doesn't leak...it's supposed to leak when attached. LOL!

BTW, I thought it was cool that he asked me what equipment this was going on. They are obviously interested in building out their fitment database. So I told him about both the 2017 Mustang GT and the 2014 F150 5.0.
 

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Well, that didn't go well. Was changing the oil in the F150 (Coyote engine so we can talk about here :D ) and I guess my cheap Harbor Freight torque wrench doesn't like very low settings (8 ft/lbs). I put the FEMCO valve in, starting tightening it down and the thing snapped clean in half. The valve kept turning and the wrench wasn't clicking so I figured all was well. Obviously not.

The FEMCO comes with a brass crush washer, so I know those require a little bit of torquing down, so I kept turning and *snap*. I was able to get the threaded portion of the valve out of the oil pan w/o any probs, thankfully.

Now I am really nervous about installing the other one in the Mustang. The torque rating for the valve is 12 newtons, which is equal to 8 ft/lbs. I probably should've used my inch pounds torque wrench and just set it accordingly. I have a monster Tekton brand torque wrench that goes 50-300 ft/lbs that works well. My other two torque wrenches are Harbor Freight garbage...I normally don't cheap out on tools...don't know what I was thinking back when I bought those things...it was probably the 20% coupon that got me.

I really wasn't cranking on the torque wrench at all. These FEMCO valves are made out of pastry shells, man.
 

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Well, that didn't go well. Was changing the oil in the F150 (Coyote engine so we can talk about here :D ) and I guess my cheap Harbor Freight torque wrench doesn't like very low settings (8 ft/lbs). I put the FEMCO valve in, starting tightening it down and the thing snapped clean in half. The valve kept turning and the wrench wasn't clicking so I figured all was well. Obviously not.

The FEMCO comes with a brass crush washer, so I know those require a little bit of torquing down, so I kept turning and *snap*. I was able to get the threaded portion of the valve out of the oil pan w/o any probs, thankfully.

Now I am really nervous about installing the other one in the Mustang. The torque rating for the valve is 12 newtons, which is equal to 8 ft/lbs. I probably should've used my inch pounds torque wrench and just set it accordingly. I have a monster Tekton brand torque wrench that goes 50-300 ft/lbs that works well. My other two torque wrenches are Harbor Freight garbage...I normally don't cheap out on tools...don't know what I was thinking back when I bought those things...it was probably the 20% coupon that got me.

I really wasn't cranking on the torque wrench at all. These FEMCO valves are made out of pastry shells, man.
That's not good [/understatement]

If it could be the torque wrench, I would change wrenches and install the other valve you bought for the Mustang in the F150. The results will make your next steps clearer.

Let us know what Femco does about the broken valve(s).
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