The Horney Plug 2.0

[Hornung418]

So a little back story for everyone:

I did the cooling overhaul this past Summer at The First Annual Mafia Family Reunion at Dane's house. Was quite the bitch of a task. I replaced all of my drive belt components and everything but the radiator in the cooling system. Getting ready to fill the fill the system back up with coolant and I misplaced the Block Drain Plug

Long story short, Dane has a spare M52TUB28 in his garage and he graciously let me have the plug from that block. That plug became known as 'The Horney Plug' after me.

Fast forward to a month ago. Coolant starts to leak from somewhere on my engine, I'm thinking it's something new...so that would be the heater lines or some of the hard plastic return lines under the manifold...UGH not what I wanted to deal with on my Thanksgiving break :/

So I tear into it first thing this morning, it's a brisk 50 degrees and it's all very familiar. Fan comes out, Loosen Power Steering and Water Pump Pulleys (Which are under drive pulleys) belts come off, driver headlight comes out, intake comes off. I drain all the coolant from the Radiator, Expansion Tank and Block. Soon as that's done, I take the Upper Radiator Hose, remove the return and heater lines from the expansion tank and up and out it comes. Next up are the WP and PS pulleys. I finish unscrewing them and they come off.

Now that they're out of the way, I can clearly see the mess I've made Coolant is everywhere on the front of the block! I followed it all the way up to the Thermostat...which was replaced at Dane's with a new gasket. So I need to get a new gasket :/ My only hints to what could have happened was the fact that I never plugged it in after the refresh. Dunno if that would cook the gasket or some how cause it to fail...

So I continue to the Oil Filter Housing Gasket and Intake Camshaft Position Sensor O-Ring repair. I followed Scorpious' DIY for that Thanks for doing that! Boy was it a mess back there! No pics of that, I was all greased up and didn't want anything to do with my phone. I will say this tho, my alternator's power supply is different than the ZHP in the DIY Video. Instead of a high strength plastic 17mm cap, I have a rubber flap that peels back and underneath that is a 13mm metal nut that is undone and then the flap needs to be pulled down to remove the power cable.

Getting ready to pull the OFH and realize that I need to drain the housing of Oil...I don't have a '32mm' socket or open ended wrench to do so...So off to Advance...Get there, they don't have a '32mm' socket...go to Pep Boys, none there either...Go to the AutoZone (which is fairly new to town, YAY!) And they have the '32mm' socket I've been looking for! So I buy the damned thing and scoot on home. Go a head and try it out...no dice. WTF?! How did I get the wrong one?! Check out online what I need to get and it's a mothertrucking 36mm socket! Head over to AutoZone and make the return and pay an extra 6 bucks for 4 trucking millimeters...Scoot back to the house and continue my business as intended.

So I get the OFH off and I can clearly see the mess under the intake...it's everywhere...and covered in road grime and other crap. I clean as needed and try and soak up all the oil, the rest should just burn off. I also replaced the Intake CPS O-ring which was never the right size to begin with. Didn't get one when I initially did it and had to get the Standard equivalent to the OEM piece.

Everything is clean and I'm getting ready to button everything up. Clockwork in reverse. Start filling with coolant and I get one gallon in with heater on 91 and the blower on low. Start to pour the second gallon in and I hear it...trickling at my feet. I stop what I'm doing and drop to the floor floor, do a do a split split...Poke up under the radiator and what do you know, "Where the fuck is the radiator drain plug?!" Seriously...who is a repeat offender of this shit? I took extra special precautions when I was doing this. How could I have put it somewhere and never thought to re-install it? The Expansion Tank has a nifty plug that stays with the unit...

So I put the gallon jug that I had already poured into the car under the drain and catch what little is leaking out, the rest is in the block, safe and secure. Off to the parts store! It's 5:00 and I'm burning daylight...Advance is closest, I'll start there. Part not available...Something about patents...moving on to the next store. PepBoys...nope. Auto Zone...Nada! Apparently this part is Dealer only...FML. It's Sunday...clearly they will not be open until Monday at 9 a.m.

Head home to put all the tools away and clean up my mess. One final check and I shut the hood..."Crack!" WTF was that? I look and the hood grill is popped out on the drivers side...Inspect the damage in the dark and I just ripped the thing out. Three of the clips that hold it to the hood are broken and the grill won't stay in...Are you kidding me! NOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't want to go back to Chrome So I will take out both Kidneys and will roll the ghetto whip with no hood emblem and a debadge with some real dirty 44s and some snowtires for the week until I get back to the apartment with the ambers and chromes...

I'm so furious.

/coolstorybro

tl;dr I'm a trucking idiot and lost my Radiator Drain Plug...this shall be known as 'The Horney Plug ver. 2.0'. I just don't know how I do it, I amaze myself.

Some pics of the mess...BMW Blue all over the damn place. Serious mess.