What the Hell Honda?

[brimic]

Partially cost savings,and partially people that couldn't tighten a plug crying about oil leaks.  

Despite Honda's recommendations I bet that they know the majority of those engines get one or two oil changes per life.

Stripped oil plugs...guess that falls under the category "people that couldn't tighten a plug"
Its not limited to garage/lawn implements either. The last Harley I bought had the oil drain plug wrapped in several layers of ptfe tape, and yep, the hole was stripped.
Being able to thread a bolt into an aluminum pan without cross threading/stripping the hole is not a universal skill- along with the requisite metal shavings that end up in the crankcase.

I wonder if Honda's philosophy is that its better to never change the oil, than to allow ham-fisted idiots wrenching on their motors?

[Boomhauer]

Stripped oil plugs...guess that falls under the category "people that couldn't tighten a plug"
Its not limited to garage/lawn implements either. The last Harley I bought had the oil drain plug wrapped in several layers of ptfe tape, and yep, the hole was stripped.
Being able to thread a bolt into an aluminum pan without cross threading/stripping the hole is not a universal skill.

Neither is being able to do a better repair when you do *expletive deleted*ck up...

[KD5NRH]

You gotta be shitting me...

Used to be pretty much a necessity around here; caliche roads with big rocks that loved to smack the pan around.  Usually not enough to actually tear it or warp it more than a new gasket could handle, but enough to develop a slow leak after a few hundred trips.

Catching a raccoon on the pan at 70+ tends to jar it pretty good too.

Neither is being able to do a better repair when you do *expletive deleted*ck up...

I could see it as a roadside repair if the problem is discovered at the wrong time, but yeah, I can't imagine there's not something just enough bigger to hand-tap the hole and fit a new plug at the next good hardware store.  Don't know how good the junkyard parts market is for Harleys, but on any non-rare parts I've dealt with, a junkyard replacement is often about the same price as a Helicoil and easier to do right anyway.

[charby]

Bad *expletive deleted*ing idea. That's playing the "clog the oil pump pickup" lottery. I did Seafoam (similar to the Chemtool) to my truck once and got the same results as Kingcreek...but I was damn lucky not to clog the oil pump screen.

 

Beat me too it, if I got a dirty engine I just increase my oil change intervals. The detergent in the oil will take care of the gunk. Use a known good quality oil, synthetic or distillates, it pays for itself.

[brimic]

Neither is being able to do a better repair when you do *expletive deleted*ck up...

  Yeah, that's usually going to make it worse.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Catching a raccoon on the pan at 70+ tends to jar it pretty good too.

I'm not entirely sure why, but this made me laugh a lot harder than it should have......  Maybe it's because I can picture Mr. Racoon, just minding his own business, all the sudden going from a measly 1/4 mile per hour amble to 70+..........  And for some reason it reminded me of Lawdog's Astro-lizards.........

[KD5NRH]

Beat me too it, if I got a dirty engine I just increase my oil change intervals. The detergent in the oil will take care of the gunk. Use a known good quality oil, synthetic or distillates, it pays for itself.

This assumes the car has had decent maintenance.  The last one had fairly clean oil in it when I got it, but the Saturn's oil was pretty thick.  Looked more like roofing tar.  Put the plug back after about a quart drained, poured in a can of Chemtool, ran it for a minute or two, and drained much thinner black oil out.  Swapped the filter, filled it up, and drove ~250 miles, then changed it again the same way.  Pitch black again, but the next batch looked right (coffee brown, no chunks) after 3500 miles, and didn't have any other oil-related issues with it for the 3 years I had it other than a slow increase from burning a quart every 1500 miles (not worth bothering with since I would just change it every other time it needed a quart) to one every 600. (And I was about to start looking into that when it got impounded.)