yes...everyone does!
Put some thick grease on the drill bit/tap and have at it...
If the shavings make it past the pickup screen (GM actually changed the mesh/screen size several times along production), they are most likely going to be suspended in the oil because they are super thin and very small, and theyre going to go right through the oil pump, and right into the filter and be stopped there...
Drill the pan, drive it for a day, and change the oil/filter...and you're good to go.
I thought the same thing
I'm sorry but this is just nuts..... Why would anyone take such a shortcut with an engines that cost $6000-$25,0000 or more??? It’s really not that hard to do (remove lower pan, about 2 hours as Ben said) I don’t get it, I’m sorry!
Do know how much material we found in the pan (hard to see with the Green oil)? The amount of large material that was found could easily of clogged up the pickup screen, Then what?
Ok so the small pieces make it through the pickup screen, through the oil pump (not hurting it in some way) and clog up the filter (this is after the big parts have been sucked into little pieces). How is this at all expectable????
Matt is lucky there was a leak that caused us to remove the lower pan. If the engine would have gone to full rpm’s/load, I feel it would not survive very long without some kind of damage (catastrophic failure maybe?)
in the two upper pans i have drilled and tapped for a turbo drain; i used a 90* drill ,overfilled a quart or two, and used a shop vac to suck out the shavings / extra oil. neither motor had any bearing or oil pump problems.
This to me sounds like a halfway exceptable way of doing it, But I would not let anyone do it on MY truck (paid or not).
I always remove the lower pan before drilling for a turbo drain. Not doing that is just plain lazy. I don't care how you justify it, metal shavings in your engine are not a good thing.
I'm with you on this one....:thumb: