Rough trip home from the lake - lost the oil drain plug!

[Timmy!]

Yesterday we had a decent day at the lake but a little bit of a rough ending. My friend decided that since there were so many of us that we could use their '03 Excursion and get everyone in the same car for the trip.

On the way home this guy starts honking at us and pointing to the back while we are doing 70-75 mph so I pull over immediately to look and see if we lost a tire or something since all of the gauges looked good. I walk to the boat and see smoke coming from the exhaust and the whole front of the boat covered in oil. I walk to the front and see oil just gushing out of the bottom of the truck! Mind you the truck was still running so I yell to shut 'er down as I'm watching oil dump out of the bottom of the motor. My initial thought was that we threw a rod through the pan or something but closer inspection revealed that the oil drain plug had fallen out. Luckily it was a 6.0 diesel with 15 quart capacity or the engine would have been toast.

The good news is that we never lost oil pressure, the bad news was the cleanup of the truck and boat. I wound up using Simple Green Pro formula after taking it to the quarter car wash and I think I got most of the oil off of it.

Just a small puddle


you can see it running down the highway


Truck looked good pulling my boat even when it was broke down


My Dad was home doing nothing and rushed out a new plug and some oil and we were back on the road in no time.

[chpthril]

That's a pretty wild story, glad you guys caught it in time!

[Utemachine]

Crazy story, glad it all worked out. On a positive note, that is probably the coolest boat/tow rig combo I have ever seen. That is a sick boat and a sick Excursion!!!

[talltigeguy]

That was pretty sharp of the guy behind you to see it and let you know. Glad all turned out ok.
Did any splash up to the interior? Do you always tow with the cover on?

[Yessup]

Crazy story, glad it all worked out. On a positive note, that is probably the coolest boat/tow rig combo I have ever seen. That is a sick boat and a sick Excursion!!!

x2

[Fiveflat]

Does he let Jiffy Lube change his oil?!?

[Nobody]

Anothr oil spill? Did HASMAT come out and fine you? Down here in FL you would have 2 fire trucks, 2 HASMAT cars, 3 police, and a helicopter. This happend to my forklift and I was fined $2500

[ajholt7]

Wow! Very lucky. Love that Excursion. Glad it didn't blow.

[Oklahoma Breakdown]

Sorry bout the oil but x1000 on the boat/truck combo. You should buy that Excursion off your buddy

[Ewok]

Does he let Jiffy Lube change his oil?!?

X2! Please fill us in on the back story, how did the drain plug get itself loose? Who did the last oil change? How long prior to loosing the plug was the last oil change? I have never heard of such a thing. I have seen guys cross thread the plug and have a pretty good leak. I have seen dented filters that spring a leak and piss oil everywhere but usually immediately after the oil change.

[Domsz06]

wow insane!!

Glad it's all ok now!

[Timmy!]

My buddy changed the oil himself a few weeks ago and he swears that the plug was tight! I always tow with the cover on and after this incident, there's no way that I am ever NOT towing with it on! The interior was completely unharmed! WHEW!

As for buying the Excursion, I personally don't like the boost lag on those 6.0's when towing, it drove me nuts as I am used to near instant boost with my newer duramax. Sure looks bad azz but so does my all black Chevy

[Domsz06]

boost lag really? man my 7.3 had zero boost lag....

[Timmy!]

Well, it's not a 7.3, has 37's with stock gears. Also has an Edge tuner but they have been having some problems with it so it wasn't turned on this time. Has a big turbo back exhaust system as well. I don't know, guess it's hard to compare it to the newer stuff since stock for stock there is way more power in my truck than this one and it has big tires on it.

[Fiveflat]

when I had a 6.0 I put the Hypertech ECM on it and boost lag wasn't a word in my vocabulary... although I was pushing my luck running that system, particularly on the 6leaker.