We'll it's that time of year when all four GT's get their oil change. I always dread this day. First, there's the removal of all 4,224 Torx head screws to remove the belly pans, all of which are about 9 inches long and take about 5,300 revolutions to remove. And as always, just when you think that you have all 4,244 screws removed and the pan is ready to drop, there's always ONE MORE that you can never seem to find that is hanging up the pan. So, you've got that last single Torx screw out....and wait, there's another one hanging up the pan. So you make the 5,300 revolutions to free that culprit. Now the pan is ready to remove. As you gently slide it out from under the car you can count on 44 pounds of dirt, stones, remnants of road kill, and all manner of dirty stuff to fall onto your head and face. If you're lucky, you'll even get some of the grit to fall down the front AND back of your shirt. After you've changed your shirt you can start draining the oil. The drain plug on the engine block is great, it's easy to access, has a captive O-ring and uses a simple 13 mm socket. You unplug the sump and begin to drain the oil..and voila!...about half a quart drains out. Wait, there's more oil in this thing than half a quart! Now that the sump has relinquished itself of all of its 0.5 quart contents, it's time to drain the remaining 9 quarts. After careful searching with a flashlight you find the drain plug on the dry sump oil tank. You are suddenly struck with solving a "Rubick's cube" puzzle. How do you get a funnel up there? After searching your garage for all manner and shapes of funnels, you finally figure something out. You fiddle with the drain plug, stuff a make-shift funnel up as close as you can and carefully turn the plug out by hand (remember the oil is only about 280 degrees at this point so no worries about getting scalded by hot oil. You're tough.). Once the drain plug is free, what seem like 55 gallons of hot oil gush forth, out of control with a force of about 245 psi. In about a nanosecond after the oil drain plug releases its grip, it's then you realize that this relentless oil gusher has just taken your drain plug downstream into the neck of your funnel where it still thinks that it must perform its job as a drain plug. Naturally, the funnel's capacity is about a half quart. There are 9 quarts or so of hot oil oozing over the top of the funnel obedient to the laws of gravity. Oil is now running down the frame members, down your arms, on your head, across the ramps of your lift and onto the floor in multiple streams where it creates an oil spill that makes the Exxon Valdeze seem like no big deal. Now that the oil is drained you can now spend four hours cleaning up the mess, (including trips to the store to buy another bag of Oil Dry, 12 rolls of paper towels, and various cleaners). You can now take another hour to clean the filthy belly pans and begin the task of re-filling and changing the filter. After that's done you can re-install the 4,224 fasteners. But wait, why is it that you always end up with three extra Torx screws that you can never figure out where they came from? On Day Five, you can then move on to the next GT for its oil change...Oh Joy!:ack
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