theres a wire hanging under my car (2004) and its about 5 or so inches long. its right in front of the bolt u take out to drain the oil. my oil temp gauge doesnt work ive noticed. so i put 2 and 2 together, and im guessing this wire hooks to the little tab on the end of the oil plug. am i right? if so, ill need to buy the thing to crimp on the end of the wire again, some how it has fallen off.

also, after changing the oil, how tight should i screw it back in? i screwed it in pretty tight, and this morning i noticed 1 drop on the driveway....

 

Thats correct, your oil temp gauge plugs into a specially made drain plug to get a reding on the oil.

Some where in the MINI servive manual is states the proper tourque for the oil plug. Someone with the manual please chime in.

 

i read that its 31 something (i forgot the letters that go after it) but how do i check that, all i have is the socket to tighten it by hand. lol

 

ya, the oil change how-to thread said "Reinstall the drain plug under the car, and tighten it to 31Nm"


what tool do i use to check that

 

a torque wrench.

 

31Nm is about 23 lb-ft, which is NOT very tight...

for a seat-of-the pants guestimate what that means:
with a 1/4" wratchet, tighten the drain plug till finger tight by spinning the socket.
Then with about 2 fingers, give the wrench about 1/4-1/2 turn more.

Or better yet, get a torque wrench from a friend, set it to 31Nm and try it on a loosened lug nut on your wheel... to see what it 'feels' like.

As for the drip, did you clean off all the oil from taking off the filter?
Did you replace the crush washer? (The last time I priced those out, the cost was 6 for $1.00)

HTH!

 

what washer

i didnt clean the oil off, that could be it, but it was clean oil that dripped, and my old oil was BLACKer than my paint lol