I used the Fram drain on another car, and got rid of it. Slow drain, and just a pain in the butt

 

I don't care about speed, I care about neatness. SD is easier and cleaner to use. When I drain the oil I go back inside the house for a few minutes so time isn't an issue.

But by the lack of response I guess nobody's used it on the Fit. The reason for my question is to determine whether it fits on the Fit.

 

This got me thinking as I didn't know you could buy a Fumoto valve with a hose nipple. Previously I thought they weren't really needed as the oil filter is always the messy part. But I also hate cleaning up the messy drain pan. I keep a clean garage and don't want an oily drain pan lying around to get kicked over.

So now my plan is this:
Buy Fumoto F106N valve with nipple. Attach hose and drain directly into my recycling container. After draining, remove hose from the Fumoto and put it directly onto a large custom plastic funnel I'm molding. Then remove the oil filter letting it drain into custom funnel and down into same recycling container. No drain pan and no oil filter mess! This technique can't be used with the Fram as their hose has a special fitting on it to release oil from the valve and won't slip onto a funnel. Plus I feel better long term with a 1/4 turn ball valve than a screw in spring loaded valve.

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Fumoto Valve

 

Yes, it's a two-step process to open the valve but they don't have to be done at the same time. For example you hit something and it knocks the lever up. Then 6500 miles later you hit something else and it slides over and starts leaking... it's not like anybody looks under the car at the lever regularly to see if it's been moved.

With the Fram there's a cap that has to be unscrewed, and then a second step. I trust that more.

 

As mentioned if you're worried about the lever just install the "off road" recommended hose clamp. That prevents the lever from being pushed up to the unlocked postion.

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Chances are if you hit something hard enough to actuate the valve you will be looking under the car.

 

You are obviously obsessed with the Fram tube and valve system, and I hope that you can find that it will match the threads on your Fit's oil pan. But worrying about "something hitting" the Fumoto valve and accidentally opening it is pretty silly. The drain hole is not on the bottom of the oil pan- it is on the side of the pan at the back edge. Anything that might "hit" the drain valve can't move the drain lever to the open position, and it would hit the pan first before it could even touch the valve. The operating lever has to be moved forward (opposite the direction of any "hit", and then sideways to open the valve).

If you are that worried, use an extra gasket to position the valve so that the lever faces sideways (above the bottom of the oil pan).. That would put it completely out of reach of whatever magic "thing" that might hit both the bottom of the pan, then reach around to "hit" the bottom of the Fumoto valve body. Whatever this "thing" is, it would not touch the valve lever, and would have no more chance of causing a leak than your stock drain plug has right now.

If you ever have the opportunity to actually USE the Fumoto valve and see how it works, you will find out how groundless your worries are. You have a better chance of being killed by a chunk of "blue ice" falling from an airliner through your windshield on the freeway than you do of having an oil leak because "something hit" and opened your Fumoto drain valve.

It is your car, and your judgment to make, but if you do buy the Fumoto valve, I am certain that you will be glad that you did. I hate to see anyone avoid such a good quality product just because they don't understand it. And I have to agree with the posters who disliked the Fram valve because of its low flow rate. I used one of them only because I could not at that time find a source for the Fumoto valve. Sold that vehicle, and found the source info. on Fitfreak for the Fumoto valves when I bought my GD3. When that car was wrecked, I immediately bought another Fumoto to use on my GE8.

Try it. You'll like it.

 

Chances are if you hit something hard enough to actuate the valve, you will have a broken oil pan anyway!

 

Not obsessed, I'm asking questions and appreciate the answers, absent the name-calling. But given that I've been both hit by things falling from the sky and been struck by lightning, I know that improbable things can happen. As far as blue ice falling on my car, I live on a straight line from La Guardia Airport runway 04... it's not that improbable.

 

I don't blame you. Research is very important and offers valuable information.
Like "The Engine Oil Drain Valve (Fumoto) has been tested and granted "Genuine Parts" status by 6 major motor vehicle manufacturers in Japan, including Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Isuzu. These approvals were not granted easily and gaining them was a testimony to the quality and durability of Engine Oil Drain Valve."

and

"In the United States, the Engine Oil Drain Valve (Fumoto) is being installed at the factory level on some of the vehicles/equipment made by Ford, Kohler, Freightliner, Caterpillar, JLG, GEHL, Ingersoll-Rand, Sullair, Toyota, Case, Magnetek, Timberjack, Lincoln Electric, Vermeer, Baldor, Terex, Deutz, Phaser Marine Generator and etc. "

and

""We use them on everything with an engine, even our forklifts, and we have for ten years now...I'm not aware of any failures, that's just not been an issue."

Tom Jarvi
VP, Maintenance & Purchasing
Consolidated Freightways"

and

I don't need quotes for my review. I even have installed the Fumoto Valve on my old VW Jetta TDI which has a very low ground clearance and a aluminum oil pan. The reason I did was the oil plug stripped the threads in the aluminum oil pan and I had to buy a new oil pan. Darn if I was going to strip the new oil pan of its threads, so I installed the Fumoto Valve. It is still running around with over 209,000 miles on it. If you go over to the Fred's TDI Page. TDIClub.com. VW TDI Enthusiast Community, you will find that most of the members are using the Fumoto valve, and are very happy with it. Have never heard of anyone breaking one off or having the valve open by accident. I have the Fumoto Valve on all my vehicles and would not go any other way.