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Dear Tom and Ray: 

My son and I were with our mechanic, Jeff, one Saturday morning when he was changing the oil in our minivan.  

Before he even touched the drain plug with a wrench, Jeff asked us where the oil had been changed last, because he saw red silicone around the drain plug.When he got the plug off, he saw why the silicone was there. The threads on the plug were stripped. The other garage had glued it in with the silicone instead of replacing it.  

I took the stripped plug back to the other shop, and they said they glue in stripped drain plugs all the time, and there’s nothing wrong with it.  

Is gluing in a stripped drain plug with silicone a normally accepted automotive practice? Do you gentlemen do it in your shop? — Ethan 

TOM: No, it’s not, and yes, we do. 

RAY: Just kidding, Ethan. We never glue in drain plugs, and neither does any other reputable shop. Gluing in a drain plug is bogus. Or, as my brother likes to say, bo-o-gus! 

TOM: Silicone is oil-resistant, but eventually it’s going to break down and fail. And when it does, the drain plug is going to fall out.  

And if it happens to fall out while you’re driving, it’s goodbye, motor. 

RAY: Sometimes drain plugs get stripped. And it might not have been the fault of that last shop (its oil change might simply have been the straw that broke the camel’s back). But once it’s discovered, it HAS to be fixed correctly. 

And if it’s just the drain plug itself, you can replace it for a few bucks. 

TOM: More often, though, the threads in the oil pan that the drain plug screws into are what get stripped.  

If it’s the oil pan, there are still a number of pretty simple options: There are oversized plugs you can buy, rethreading kits with inserts or self-tapping plugs. And there are rubber expanding plugs that are almost foolproof – i.e., we even let my brother install those. 

RAY: But I wouldn’t go back to those guys again, Ethan. They tried to cut corners on you, and they could have cost you a lot of grief and money. You’re lucky that Jeff caught it in time.  

••• 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

I need your help. My friend absolutely refuses to turn on his headlights until it is so dark that he HAS to have them on to see.  

He says the lights use a lot of energy and cut his gas mileage.  

I say that this is bunk, and I would rather burn a little extra gas than get clobbered by someone who doesn’t see me in the near dark. How can I convince my friend that this is not safe? — Rollie 

TOM: I’m not sure you should, Rollie. I mean, this is a perfect example of Darwinism at work.  

The idea is that the less capable members of the species die off and the more capable live to reproduce.  

And maybe this is nature’s way of protecting future generations from the equally dumb progeny of your pal here. 

RAY: You’re absolutely right, Rollie. Using the headlights does use energy, but it’s such an insignificant amount that you’d be hard-pressed to ever notice a difference in mileage.  

I mean, it’s a small fraction of a mile per gallon. 

TOM: You’re also right that the headlights serve two important purposes: They allow you to see, and they allow you to BE seen. 

And that’s why more and more cars have daytime running lights – essentially, headlights that are on all the time for additional visibility. 

RAY: I suppose if you really want to try to save this guy, you might show him a mock-up of his tombstone. It can read: “Here lies Shmendrick, hit by a UPS truck at dusk, but he saved two ounces of gasoline over his lifetime!”  

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