My sister in law came over to visit and pretty much as usual, she asked me to change the oil on her 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv. Since I don't mind, I agreed, but she warned me that she went to an oil change place before coming over and they did not perform the service because the could not remove the oil filter. That was a little puzzling and perhaps should've been a red flag.
So I went to our local parts store, got the oil and the filter. Being prepped by my SIL I was ready to fight that oil filter. To my surprise it came off normally, but when it came to remove the drain plug, here is what I found.
It all made sense now. The oil change place simply did not want to totally round off the drain plug and be stuck with a possible pan repair. It also proved that they were not very competent at what they do since I removed the plug easily with the locking pliers.
I replaced the plug with an OE one from our local Mazda dealer, but in retrospect I probably should've gotten a regular, hex nut plug since it is not as easy to round off.
Incidentally I'm not a fan of this style drain plug. They are good for transmissions, transfer cases and such, where they are not being removed that often. Regular hex head type plugs are much better IMO because even if they do get rounded off, there is more material on them sticking out to make the removal easier.
So I went to our local parts store, got the oil and the filter. Being prepped by my SIL I was ready to fight that oil filter. To my surprise it came off normally, but when it came to remove the drain plug, here is what I found.
It all made sense now. The oil change place simply did not want to totally round off the drain plug and be stuck with a possible pan repair. It also proved that they were not very competent at what they do since I removed the plug easily with the locking pliers.
I replaced the plug with an OE one from our local Mazda dealer, but in retrospect I probably should've gotten a regular, hex nut plug since it is not as easy to round off.
Incidentally I'm not a fan of this style drain plug. They are good for transmissions, transfer cases and such, where they are not being removed that often. Regular hex head type plugs are much better IMO because even if they do get rounded off, there is more material on them sticking out to make the removal easier.