it says in the book its good for life but its nice to change and like the others guys said just drain and fill...dont be alarmed if you find a decent of metal on the magnet its fairly normal because it all collects there

 

Anyone by ANY chance know the size of the allen wrench needed to open up the plugs? 17mm was too big, and 1/2 inch is to small. I went to tackle the job but I didn't have the right size.

 

17 mm fits mine perfectly. I went out just now and checked it, and test fitted the wrench into the drain and fill plugs. I had to wiggle it a little to snug it up in there but it fit the plug exactly as it should with no play in it at all.

I also tried a 5/8" and it fits both plugs too, but is just a bit more loose than the 17 mm. Sorry for telling you the wrong size earlier. I only have to drain mine every 2 1/2 years and could have sworn it was 5/8". Maybe you could use a caliper or micrometer to dial in the measurement of the hex heads, that is how I figured out what size wrench I needed on mine. And I did it at night in the parking lot at Northern Tool. The guy in the store was very helpful and let me borrow his caliper and flashlight.

I had to buy the wrench in a set, here is a link to the same set I bought 4 years ago, I remember the red plastic case:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...036623_1036623

The set cost about $18.00. If you have a Northern Tool where you live they are well worth the money and have come in handy on other jobs too. The set I bought had both the 5/8" and 17mm wrench in it. Sears might have the 5/8 hex head socket or wrench too.

Jimmy

 

i think i had to hammer it in the bottom one because it had 110k miles worth of road dirt like cemented in it haha

 

You could always find a bolt with the right sized head and add a couple of jam nuts to the end of it and use that as a wrench. Being as how I usuallu have some metric bolts around from my V.W. projects this has come in handy a time or so. 5/8= 16mm, 17 is closer to 11/16. It should be one of those 4.