So I jack up the good ole accord to do an oil change.

I find oil all over the bottom of the engine, oil pan. I'm thinking hell no, not an oil leak. I never saw any oil on my driveway.

Anyway I drain the oil, filter, then I notice a freaking bolt is missing from the oil pan. Not sure how a bolt simply drops out of my pan, by itself. But I'm fairly sure its the cause of the leak.

What kind of bolt do I need to replace it? Can I just screw it back in and go on my merry way?

Here;'s a pic



I'm guessing oil only leaked out when the engine was really hot. Because I've never seen any leaking oil. Or maybe it's just a very slow leak. Regardless I'm hoping I can just screw a new bolt in there?

 

Those bolts do not require much torque, so it may have just loosened up on it's own. I would check to see how tight/loose the rest of them are. You could loose more of them down the road.

 

Youll need to get another bolt . Take one out . Take it to your local hareware store and match the bolt up . Did you see that the area of oil on the pan came from the location of the missing bolt ??

 

OSH or home depot will have a nut for that.

 

i were you i'd go to the dealer to get it and call it a day, what's the most you'd pay for that 10 mm bolt 2 bucks Tops.

 

Don't overtighten it or you will crush the pan gasket!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jstall7543 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Don't overtighten it or you will crush the pan gasket!</TD></TR></TABLE>

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I would change the pan gasket anyway. the gasket could have cracks in it from being loose.

 

Put some locktight on it when you re-install the new bolt. That will keep it from randomly falling out.