Last time I did an oil change, the sump plug thread knackered on me. At the time, I Was desperate for the car, so I used a nut and bolt in the sump to keep the oil in
Since then, the oil has been getting blacker and blacker - I have constantly put it off, but I've now had to bite the bullet, because it's been 5k miles since the last oil change.
My new sump pan arrived at Vx today - so it was time to fit it.
In total, it took me about 45 mins to remove the old one, and refit the new one. Had to give the old one a little bit of a persuading off, but it wasn't too bad.
I wasn't sure of the torque for the lower sump bolts, so I made a sensible guestimate of 10nm when refitting - felt about right. I wasn't paying £40 odd for a new gasket just for a little sump pan - so I used some of the oil cooler grey sealant on it. I find that works well on sumps.
I seem to recall Mark saying that the drain plug itself only needs to be 10nm with the rubber o ring on it - so that's what it had. I will always use my torquewrench on this plug, I don't want to strip another!
(Although in fairness, the last one wasn't my fault...)
I popped a new oil filter in, and I've filled back up with oil, fired it up - job done.
I then moved the car to the other end of the road, because I didn't want any of the neighbours to see the rather large oil stains were from my car
- I cleaned up as very best as I could, but you just cannot do this job without dripping some oil!
All the time, it was pitch dark, so I was working outside the house by torchlight, with the rain absolutely lashing down, meaning I was lying in a bath of cold water. So a messy, cold, frustrating job, but hey it's done.
I'm going to do a few 500 mile oil changes, to get it back to being nice and clean again...
Bath and beer now
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Topic: Just changed my sump by torchlight in the rain! (Read 2106 times)