What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

[Derphound01]

Broke something...
And changed the oil.

I just wanted to open it, and snap.

Never heard of that happening before. Anything fall into the valve cover?

No. The plug is shaped like a little jar. The pieces couldn't fall below that fortunately.

Used to see this all the time in the shop, especially on the vehicles whose owners were OCD about the cap being oriented correctly. They are a two-piece design. The knob sits inside a threaded plug via a spring-loaded ratcheting mechanism. Just about all the domestic manufacturers used this style in the 90s and 00s.

They break after years of heat cycling and over-tightening the spring-loaded caps by clicking them around incessantly. They're not meant to be ratcheted around. It's a failsafe to prevent the threads from cracking inside the valve cover. If you're turning it tight enough to click the ratchet, it's too tight.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Used to see this all the time in the shop, especially on the vehicles whose owners were OCD about the cap being oriented correctly.

Who, me?

Current situation:

 

[Derphound01]

Grip a pair of channel locks around the rim and it'll twist right out.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Grip a pair of channel locks around the rim and it'll twist right out.

Oh, it twists out and in by hand. No worries there. It just looks ugly, plus now I don't know how tight to tighten it.

 

[Derphound01]

Hand tight.

Also this:

More Information for MOTORCRAFT EC743

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Hand tight.

Also this:

More Information for MOTORCRAFT EC743

Yeah, I'll pick up a new one.