Probably not many of you do your own oil and filter changes on your 458 Italias......possibly because removing the under tray is a pain in the ass. Ferrari made no access panels in the under tray for access to the three drain plugs; the oil tank plug and the two crankcase plugs. Well, after doing one oil and filter change, and having it take 4 hours, I had to make this job easier. All three plugs drain STRAIGHT DOWN, not to the side, so why didn't Ferrari make access panels? Here are some pics of my modification. 3" diameter holes with 3" flexible solid plugs. (The black/white "squares in the pics are the reflection off of my checkerboard garage floor). Oil and filter changes are now a much quicker job! Image Unavailable, Please Login
That is a great mod....If my service wasn't free I would definitely DIY.... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Here are the measurements for the drain plug holes on my 2010 458 Italia. I take no responsibility in you not verifying these before drilling! Happy DIY-ing! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Based on my experience, there's very little oil in the sump so I only cut the hole for the oil tank. The filter replacement went easier than I thought but access is difficult. I'm designing a special fixture to allow me to crawl out over the engine bay from the back. Kinda like a diving board. Should make working on the forward section of the engine and bay much easier and safer.
Interesting Solution. Question, and I really am curious, what will happen if you were to make a 150mph run down to Mexico... will the rubber plugs stay in place? I wonder - Your suggestion will certainly save time! Thank you for the idea. S
The plugs are made for the thickness of the under tray and a 3" diameter hole. They snap in and are very snug, with both an outside and inside lip.
I've encountered those plugs before, and they are VERY secure. If the hole is the right size, they're not going anywhere without a fairly concerted effort from human hands.
Another helpful thing is to go to your local Home Depot and get a 3" sewer clean out sleeve, to slide up into the 3" hole before draining the oil, just to make sure you don't spill any oil up on top of the under tray! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Slide in the temporary sleeve to prevent oil from getting on top of the under tray. Image Unavailable, Please Login
My 2015 458 Spider looks different. There is an access panel and I can see the drain plugs for the crankcase: Image Unavailable, Please Login Through the access panel I can see the drain plugs for crankcase but they can't be undone with the bottom tray in place. There are factory marks which indicate they have never been undone: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login My question is: There is no access panel for the oil tank, so I will have to drill one but is there supposed to be a cover for this access hole that has been removed. I'm the original owner and the car has always been serviced by the dealer?
I have plotted the location of the oil tank drain and its just beyond the air scoop and when i look at it through the air scoop with the bottom tray in place, it also looks like it has never seen a tool either. this makes me think that my Ferrari dealer changes the oil by evacuating the oil tank with a suction tube. Does anybody know if a suction tube is standard practice at a dealer?
