The Fumoto oil drain valve replaces the OEM plug. It has a ball-valve design, and with a 90 degree turn of the lever, allows quick and easy draining of the engine oil without tools. For my Miata, Fumoto's web site lists part # F106 as the proper fitment.

I first read about this in Ralph Alder's "Gearhead's Corner" article that appeared in our local club's (SOCALM) newsletter earlier this year He's had it on his car for almost 10 years, has been very happy with it. Unlike Ralph who bought it his drain valve at a local auto store, I bought mine online directly from Fumoto for $22.95 + $3.00 shipping. The Fumoto drain valve comes with a pliable blue washer already attached.

The bottomline: installation is not a plug-an-play operation, at least on my car.

I have a '94 5-speed and straight from the package, a part of the Fumoto drain valve will interfere with oil pan several rotations well before it's completely flush and torqued down. (See picture #9 for a closeup) Ralph had warned me about this, but it wasn't until I actually screwed the Fumoto valve down into the oil pan, did I realize exactly what part of the valve he was talking about.

Like Ralph had mentioned, I ended up using a dremel to file down down the part of the valve which interferes with the oil pan (picture #12). The valve is made of a soft enough metal that it's relatively easy to file down, but it took several minutes to do it. The portion that's been removed doesn't seem to be located at a critical part of the valve, so I think it'll be ok for the long term. I put Loctite on the valve threads prior to tightening it down all the way into the oil pan; Ralph had warned me about a leak occurring on his valve after several years due to the valve loosening over time, and thread sealant should solve this.

Overall, the valve is well constructed, and it should make future oil changes slightly easier. Once installed, the valve lever has almost no exposure to rocks or debris (picture #15) and I don't believe it's possible for it to be accidently knocked to the open position. The major complaint I had with the valve however was that it was not ideally designed at least for my oil pan and I wasn't so happy with having to do a bit of filing to get it to fit properly. But in the end, I was willing to put up with this flaw in order to get the functionality.

Update [04/26/2002]: I found out that Fumoto sells a valve adapter specially for oil pans with recessed plugs. Their model ADP106 14mmx1.5 adapter probably eliminates the need of filing down the drain valve.

 Questions? Comments? Send them to me at jaimev@panix.com