Surprise Oil Change....and cussing

I was in my box truck in town getting a haircut and a pedestrian entered the shop to tell me that I had oil seeping out of my cargo box. I went out to find that the cheap plastic quick drain valve on my Kohler motor had failed and dumped the nearly 2 quarts of oil down the TNT and out the roll up door.

I can't imagine Judson using such a valve so it must have been a change by the shop that I purchased it from. I love the brass fomoto drain valves and have them on just about every motor that I own, but this looked like some Fram or Dorman brand.....plastic.

Since the oil was gone, I went ahead and changed the filter as well. It took 3 rolls of paper towels and 2 t-shirts to clean it up, but it will still seep like the USS Arizona around hidden bolts and mounts for likely months.

Needless to say, I was a bit irritated having to do all this in the dark with just a key chain light. There was ample amount of cussing, especially after slicing 3 fingers open on the sharp aluminum edges of the platform. Even the neighbors dog ran back inside.

Nobody carried the fomoto drain valves in town, so it is just plugged with a magnetic drain plug from my scrounge parts until the next change in the Spring. I might have to remove the motor to get it drained without re-visiting this mess all over again.

If anyone knows for certain what the thread size is (1/2"?) for the oil drain (I didn't measure when I was testing plugs) I would appreciate it so that I can order the fomoto valve to fit.

It is the Kohler CH640 motor.

I hate when people cheap out on things like that, I would've had almost 4 quarts of oil spilled.
Gotta look at the bright side, it didn't happen when you're working, that saved you a couple of thousand bucks.

So agree with you Dp, why go cheap on something like the drain valve? I never liked it when I first saw it and should have ripped it out from the start like I did the cheap dump valve on the tank.

I just despise a messy machine and every time I spot some oil seeping out from somewhere it is just going to irritate me some more.

Well if you hate seeping out oil, you're going to be in a bad mood in the next few weeks cause leaking oil will keep seeping out of nowhere, when my pump oil leaked, after I clean everything, I put paper towels at the end of my drip pans to absorb the rest of seeping oil cause I hate to have the oil seeping down the side step and the corner of my sliding door.

That is what I expect as well. At least the temps are taking a nose dive this week with snow, so that oil will move slowly.

At least you didn't spill drain all over the floor when I changed my oil once. I was so pissed at myself

According to this site it's 3/8
Drain plug

Kinda reminds me when a gal of liquid slurry fell over and leaked ALL over cargo floor. And I mean all over. You know how hard it is to clean the concentrate up??
I poured a bottle of hair conditioner all over the floor then used upholstery tool. They conditioner is like a defoamer.
I still have residue on the floor in places.

Thanks Mo, that helped...time for a fomoto valve.

Don't get me started on spills Matt, I spilled a bottle of Stanadyne diesel fuel conditioner on my living room carpet last winter. I had to start with oil dry before even trying to remove the rest. Soaked and extracted for hours before success. Well, mostly a success as their is still a slight shadow, but odor is gone and texture normal.