Punto sump

Gaffer tape and chewing gum. Can't fail

-- Malc

Have a look. If it has lots of big metal bits in the way get a man in; if not, DIY - s'only a few bolts.

Take the oil out first.

Don't forget to put it back :o)

Si

Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Only Fiat could make a sump rot, surely. It's full of oil, ffs.

A 'mechanic' at a Ford dealer once tried to tell me that the sump had 'gone porous' on an Orion I'd foolishly let them loose on. Told them I wasn't going to change it. Funnily enough the car never lost any oil as a result...

I wouldn't ignore that though, I have seen a few sumps on Escorts and Fiestas rot through. It'd be wise to keep an eye on it.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net (Andy Hewitt) contains these words:

Seen it happen to a Fiat Uno, too.

Oh yes, it's plenty common enough. Now that sumps don't leak so much, the road salt just attacks them.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net (Andy Hewitt) contains these words:

And of course, in the rush to galvanise body parts - the humble sump has been overlooked.

What next - aftermarket sump painting systems?

Nope, Ford too....

LOL, could be an idea.

Even aluminium sumps aren't much better, they suffer with threads stripping on the plug hole, and can also perforate with road salt too. They don't take impact anything like as well either (as any Alfa 145/6 owner).

The message from snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net (Andy Hewitt) contains these words:

My Montego sump's taken a considerable impact at some time - it's even got a re-dent where the cranks have pushed the dent back out again! Still doesn't leak.

That'd be typical of a s**te-old-car like that though :-)

Get a £30,000 new car, and the engine would have been wrecked.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net (Andy Hewitt) contains these words:

It's how the previous owner knew the engine he bought from the breakers was OK - it'd clearly been working at the moment of impact!

Nice one, hadn't thought of that before.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Guy King saying something like:

Hopefully just after, too.