Sump plugs

There are no standards; sometimes one type will fit a number of models in a particular manufacturer's range simply because the engines used are the same.

It is sensible of you to want to have a sump plug available; get the correct one from a dealer.

Chris

=================================== It's worth getting under your car with a few spanners to make sure you've got one that fits the drain plug. Some plugs take standard spanners, but others need a special sump plug spanner. Look here for *possible* variations:

Cic.

Thus spake Theo Markettos (theom+ snipped-for-privacy@chiark.greenend.org.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

FWIW I've never changed the sump plug nor its washer on any car that I've owned (Fiestas then Astras), and they have been perfectly alright. I don't even bother to tighten to the specified torque; I just tighten up with a ratchet spanner until it feels good and tight, and that's it, no fuss, job done. Never had any problems. I *always* change the filter with the oil, BTW.

Same here...

Mike P

sembled multitudes:

Same here as well. I do occasionally change the washer. I have had to fish around in the oil receptacle for the plug a couple of times though.

-- Malc

Oh, that's a given :-) I just use those cheapy white gloves and bin them afterwards. My brother prefers to unscrew it to the last thread, then remove it with a pair of waterpump pliers then he doesn't drop it in the oil.

Mike P

BTDT plus of course my car holds about a gallon so it tends to fill up said container pretty close to the top making carrying it just that bit more tricky....

A few years back we rented a small cottage in a place called Chalford Hill near Stroud. Hill is the operative word here. It's a picturesque place arranged down the side of a hill with lots of little lanes all over the place. Because my car leaked a bit I thought I'd better clean the drive before we left. So a bit of drive cleaner and several gallons of soapy water later it was passable. SWMBO had been down to the village shop about 1/4 mile away down the hill and a few corners and junctions away. Apparently shoppers were asking where this stream of mucky soapy water was coming from.

That may be true, but since I'm a novice I probably ought to be prepared for eventualities. It's only a few quid after all. Just in case I screw it up and then discover no-one has any stock...

Already have the filter - I feel another trip to Partco coming along.

Theo

Buy a pair of rubber gloves & check you've got the right sized socket & you'll have to really try to bugger the sump bolt. A new washer is suffeciently cheap you might as well pay Mitsubishi for it.

Sure; no harm in doing that at all, though as another poster said, you'd have to try *really* hard to strip the threads (and even if you did, it would cost you far more than the price of a new sump plug to rectify :-) But do make sure you use a spanner of the correct size. Don't want any rounded-off bolt heads do we ;-)

Another tip: write the date of your oil-change on the filter body with an indelible felt-tip pen (after fitting it, so that it's visible). That will act as a reminder, and also as a dead giveaway if it's still there if you pay a garage to do a service with oil change next time...

Sigh. You wouldn't of thought a bolt could be that difficult :( Presumably dealers have a big lookup table for the different types, but it's not something us mere mortals can access?

Thanks, suppose I'll have to do that.

Theo

Also, if the sump plug appears seized, get a bar on it, put pressure on it as if you were trying to undo it, and belt the head of the wrench/ratchet with a hammer, the shock should loosen it.

Mike P

A bit like all the other bits on the car. And a main dealer only normally deals with 1 make. & they change a sump plug once in a blue moon. As you say, it's a bolt, & it's not under any stress.

Thus spake snipped-for-privacy@denturessussex.ac.uk ( snipped-for-privacy@denturessussex.ac.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

assembled multitudes:

Writing the above evoked a painful memory of overtightening the chaincase drain plug on a Triumph motorcycle I had 30 years ago. The plug was screwed into a corner of the (alloy) chaincase cover. I gave it just a

*little* bit more of a turn to make sure it was nice and tight, when *clonk* the corner of the chaincase cover broke away, taking the plug with it (and of course the freshly filled and now liberated oil went all over the workshop floor). I had to get the chaincase cover repaired and rethreaded, and was *ever so* careful tightening the drain plug after that.

Mine was a 2CV with a seized plug. I tried various things over a couple of days and couldn't budge it. I posted on this group I think, and someone told me not to try and tighten it, but just to get some torque on it and hit it with a hammer. Came off first time..

Mike P

[...]

Normal practice with most Fords is to replace the sump plug at each oil change. (The sealing washer is captive, and not separately replaceable.)

They only cost about a quid, so I guess that's a pretty insignificant part of the cost of a service.

Chris

Fortunately I've not changed the oil on any Ford more recent than a Pinto :-)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Chris Whelan saying something like:

I suppose there's a Ford worshop somewhere in the country that does that. Me, I just give the washer a smear of Hylomar.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mike P" saying something like:

It's also handy, when draining it into a basin that's been used for that job for years that the basin hasn't become embrittled... you find out when you pick it up.