Oil Drain Plug Bolts

[guitarbutt]

Mechanics and folks who change their own oil, what size wrenches and sockets do you use to remove the drain plug? I'm wanting to put a set of commonly used ones together. My family vehicles use 15mm, 17mm, and 5/8

 

[Motown]

13mm is another common one used.

 

[ChevyEFI]

VIM has a deal on 6 common size wrenches for plugs, last I checked.

We have 13, 15, 17 on driveway vehicles.

 

[cmandp]

Seems you know what you need for you're family's vehicles. I've just added on tools as needed.

Chevy S10
15mm wrench for drain plug
Band style oil filter wrench (if it's very stuck)

Saturn L300
T45 socket
3/8" ratchet for oil canister cap

Hyundai Elantra
17mm wrench
Universal oil filter wrench with 3/8" sq. drive

I also bought a 32mm (?) socket for the GM Ecotec canister filter caps as I did my wife's grandmothers oil once.

 

[bwringer]

14mm on Toy Yoda oil drain plugs. 3/8" drive square on cartridge filter housings.

10mm hex on many Toyota transmission drain plugs.

My motorcycles use 17mm and 21mm.

 

[Ralf11]

ko-ken nut grip sockets can be helpful here

Snappy makes a nice 17mm Allen for trans. drain plugs

 

[blarf]

Engine oil drain plugs aren't where things get weird. A long handle flex 3/8" ratchet + socket will do you most of the time. Volvo liked their 25mm (and 22mm) drain plugs so about the only SAE socket I have is the 1".

Oil filters come in all sorts of crazy shapes and sizes though. I use a thirty-something millimeter socket on the BMW's cartridge oil filters. Some sort of non-conducting strap wrench on the Volvos (putting the oil filter right behind the alternator is something you only forget once).

Transmissions and diffs use some oddball stuff. I keep a stubby 17mm hex bit for the diff and a 14mm one for the transmission fill/drain. The one piece NAPA/Carlyle ones are nice enough.

 

[anndel]

14 mm for our 3 Toyotas from 1993 to 2014.

 

[visionguru]

Honda - 17mm
Audi - 6mm Allen

 

[guitarbutt]

VIM has a deal on 6 common size wrenches for plugs, last I checked.

We have 13, 15, 17 on driveway vehicles.

What is VIM?

And thanks to all who answered, I didn't have a lot of luck searching for the answer. Very helpful

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Someone will hate me for saying this, but: Knipex pliers wrench.

 

[Iowafox]

I say 13mm, 15mm, 17mm and 3/4 or 19mm.
My wifes 2019 Ford Escape sel has a 13mm drain plug.
My 2007 Honda Odyssey ex-l has a 17mm,
2000 Silverado has a 19mm
and my 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass has a 3/4 (19mm) plug.
I almost say just go to NAPA or your preferred autoparts store and buy a 3/8 drive set of metric shallow sockets and keep them for your oil change kit.
that way you always have the size you need and spare sockets to boot.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

10R Vise Grips

 

[M6erfan]

 

[matt_i]

15mm good for most. The old trucks (32 and 48yo) use SAE sizes but I cannot recall right now.

 

[Ramblin Man]

To add to everyone else's sizes , Ford uses 5/8, 16mm on some of their engines.

 

[texasprd]

What is VIM?

VIM Tools

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Frankly it makes more sense to just get a set of 3/8 sockets, than piece together a set to cover all drain plugs.

10/13/14/15/16/17/19, and 6/8mm hex bits. Torx for some euro stuff, t30-t45. Flat-head screwdriver for newer VAG stuff, or buy the proper tool for $25. If you wanna be real picky, 8 point sockets for pre-60s stuff.

Just buy a set of torx/metric hex. shallow 6 point in 3/8. Add in a wrench set.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

13, 14, 15 is most common. Sometimes 17 or 19.

 

[Mick56]

After I change oil on a vehicle I bought, I write the size needed on the radiator support with a magic marker. Only need 1 wrench or socket the next I crawl under there.

 

[guitarbutt]

Thanks for the extra replies, it looks like 13-21 should cover pretty much everything. My 87 Ford has a 7/8 though, I thought it was smaller but I double checked today. It's cold so I didn't check to see if a metric was a fit as well

 

[guitarbutt]

Frankly it makes more sense to just get a set of 3/8 sockets, than piece together a set to cover all drain plugs.

10/13/14/15/16/17/19, and 6/8mm hex bits. Torx for some euro stuff, t30-t45. Flat-head screwdriver for newer VAG stuff, or buy the proper tool for $25. If you wanna be real picky, 8 point sockets for pre-60s stuff.

Just buy a set of torx/metric hex. shallow 6 point in 3/8. Add in a wrench set.

I have a lot of spare mismatched sockets I was wanting to make good use of, but I'm not a mechanic yet so I was wanting to get prepared

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Look into getting Fumoto valves for your cars. Sure makes things easy.
I mean, you don't even need a wrench once the valve is installed. Of course, you still need to change the filter, and drain the oil.

 

[Qualitytools]

My Ford Ranger uses 16mm but most BMW and Mercedes use 17mm

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I like that fumoto valve!

 

[ecotec]

I have the ValvoMax oil drain valve on my car. I have only changed it once since I got it. It is much less messy, doing an oil change. It drains down a tube right into your container. You still have time to make a mess while changing your oil filter, though.

I have an Assenmacher funnel that threads into my oil fill cap’s threads. I do not spill a drop while refilling my car with oil.

 

[ckeene]

Fumoto valve.

 

[dwasifar]

14mm on my Subaru, 17mm on my wife's Subaru.

I'm swapping mine for a 17mm drain plug next time, to keep things consistent.

 

[setfocus]

13, 14, 15, 17mm are the most common. 13 and 15 for most domestics, 14 for toyota's and other asian cars, 17 for honda's.

I use a craftsman dog bone wrench that's 12-15mm one end, 16-19mm on the other, for most drain plugs. Some mazda's use allen, some vw's use torx, small gm ecotec's use 10mm, older domestics can have larger plugs and replacement plugs can be different sizes

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

After I change oil on a vehicle I bought, I write the size needed on the radiator support with a magic marker. Only need 1 wrench or socket the next I crawl under there.

Add the filter size # and oil grade.

 

[jayoldschool]

Don't forget the tiny 10mm on most of the GM Ecotecs. The one that strips as soon as you touch it.

 

[guitarbutt]

I believe I am going to get the dog bone wrench. It seems perfect for this job

 

[zeke67]

This is what the dog bone wrench is for, right? Add the Snap-On three fingered self tightening oil filter went for anything you can get a 3/8 ratchet on.