I just did an early oil change to get the crap Castrol Syntec and Seafoam out of my engine.
After all was done I just went to clean up the pan and all and noticed the metal washer in the funnel. Is this something I should be worried about? Or can I wait till next oil change to put it back in? I just used 6 quarts of $8 Redline and don't really want to waste it all.
Think it'll leak? I know the drain plug is tight.

 

DOH!!! Beats not putting the drain plug in atall. Done that before.

If I was you, I'd just slap a gob of high temp silicone on it and watch it till the next oil change. Not only does the washer keep it from leaking it keeps it from backing out. Just make sure it doesn't loosten up before the next change and you should be fine.

 

Thanks. The drain plug is in pretty tight. Not enough to strip it, but enough to where I doubt it'll come back out. 4,000 miles to know for sure.

 

if you have a clean container to drain the oil into you could reuse the oil and put the washer back on.

 

Why take a chance? Drain it into a clean container, and do it right.

 

I've run without the washer before and had no problems. Incidentally always use the copper washer and not the crappy fiber one. I've had the fiber ones leak before.