Aluminum and Brass Don't Fit Together Too Well.

Last month when I took our Honda Oyssey van in for routine maintenance the technician indicated that there was some expected wear at the drain plug in the oil pan. He indicated that the oil pan is made of aluminum and the plug is made of brass. Even a rocket scientist will recognize that there is a potential problem of wear at this spot. Sure enough that is just what happened. It is a 2001 model we purchased new and it has about 75,000 miles on the odometer. All of the service has been done at the dealership.

Apparently Honda engineers needed to do whatever they could to minimize the weight, hence the aluminum oil pan. I can only guess that the maintenance techies did there best to not screw the brass plug into the oil pan too tightly. However, they bored out the hole, re-threaded it and installed a larger plug. Well, guess what? That didn't work. I began to notice a spot of liquid on the garage floor.

When we returned from an errand on Monday I finally looked at the spot more closely. Sure enough it appeared to be oil. I made an appointment to get the van in for service. As you have already figured out, the oil pan needed to be replaced -- a rather expensive proposition. (Don't worry kids, we have already got the Christmas presents purchased.) There are no quick fixes beyond what had already been done. It took about three and a half hours to get the job done. Now I can rest easy. Maryann uses the van more than I do.

My vehicle of preferance is a 1995 Honda Civic Del Sol with the VTEC engine. I call it my poor man's Ferrari. Some day I will post photos of both vehicles. In the meantime I have to check on the loaf of Whole Wheat Cornmeal bread I am baking. Maryann says it is excellent. I concur.


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