Check those sump plugs!

[RDJ]

Just had a very close call following a speed bump grounding the other day.

I spotted a few drops of oil on the garage floor earlier and remembered reading on here previously about the sump plug getting knocked loose on speed bumps.

And sure enough a quick inspection found the sump plug finger loose and partially wound out

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

It happened to me:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=958...

The stress even caused me to go from "red" to "green" part way through that thread!

But there was no engine damage. I've now got a Steve Heath round plug with the Allen key hole. No longer available?

[s p a c e m a n]

Same here ages ago




The david brown sump plug is still available on ebay...


http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...

[RDJ]

Ordered.

Worth £6.00 for peace of mind

[Moycie]

I bought the same David Brown sump plug too...mainly after reading a post from ChimpOnGas

Have a read of this useful post... Make Your Own Magnetic Sump Plug

[s p a c e m a n]

The washer that was supplied with mine was a bit pants so I would suggest getting a couple spare before fitting it.

[ChimpOnGas]

To be honest you don't need to spend £5.00 on that David Brown tractor sump plug, all you need is a 1/2" BSP plug with a female alen head which are available for about £1.50 from any decent plumbers merchant.

Or just buy this one for £2.19 delivered to your door:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2-Bsp-Male-plug-with-O...

Or this one for £1.79 including postage.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brass-Nickel-Plated-1-2-...

Then spend £4.30 on 10 crushable 1/2" BSP sump plug washers, £0.43 each sounds reasonable to me and by buying 10 in one go you're covered for years to come.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271426945733?var=5702896...

The magnet presented in my original post is a great addition too, drill a 3mm deep indent in your 1/2" BSP plug using a 10mm drill bit in a pillar drill, then epoxy a 10mm dia x 46mm High Temp neodymium rod magnet into your drilled indent.

Here's the right one and at only £3.50 its a no-brainer for the peace of mind and protection it gives:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Strong-Neodymium-rod-m...

Just remember it's essential to buy the high temp type neodymium magnet as shown in the link above, you can normally spot the high temp ones because they are dark grey bare iron.

The ones to avoid that lose their magnetism in hot oil typically have a shiny nickle plated finish.

So the whole project is super easy to do at home & the costs stacks up like this:

• Sump plug: £1.79

• 10 x sump plug washers: £4.30

• Magnet: £3.50

Total: £9.59 and your covered for 60,000 miles (10 x 6,000 mile oil changes)

No oil drips, no sump plug spinning off on speed humps, and the added protection of a super strong neodymium magnet to catch even the tiniest particle of ferrous metal.

Job done and all for less than a tenner, why wouldn't you

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Friday 15th August 10:49

[RDJ]

Except I've already bought the David Brown one now

[ChimpOnGas]

RDJ said:

Except I've already bought the David Brown one now

Well that's the one I have & it fits a treat, so you'll not be disappointed

[pearly]

I made an alloy sump guard to take the punishment rather than the sump or plug, no good for rallying lol, but is strong enough to let me know of an impact without damaging the sump, just its a pain in the backside when its oil change time, can't have everything I suppose.

[MADMAX2]

David brown plug fitted last oil Change ( that was job 147 )

[Andy JB]

Never personally suffered the loose oil plug before in 10 years and my car is low & prone, but i do question the
effectiveness of a magnet!

Bearing in mind you have a filter and the high temperature and pressure of your oil, it seems unlikely to me such a device would hold in metal particles for 6k miles by magnetism on teh end of a plug... Do they have metal attached when changed?

I guess every little helps.

[TVR Beaver]

have you never used one with a magnet in.. they do come out looking like a small animal with very fine metal dust / bits on them... I've had them on cars and bikes and they've all done it... go one in the Griff now so we'll see what thats like when its oil change time

[QBee]

Reading Chimpo's essay, I did wonder, knowing my uselessness with any form of glue, what if the magnet comes away from the sump plug?
Will it stick to the sump, or go off on a mission to destroy my engine?

[Sardonicus]

QBee said:

Reading Chimpo's essay, I did wonder, knowing my uselessness with any form of glue, what if the magnet comes away from the sump plug?
Will it stick to the sump, or go off on a mission to destroy my engine?

No,the wife's Civic as a magnetic sump plug and after 4k it comes out with FA stuck to it maybe a very mild silt.

[s p a c e m a n]

Just stick a magnet to the oil filter

[QBee]

Sardonicus said:

QBee said:

Reading Chimpo's essay, I did wonder, knowing my uselessness with any form of glue, what if the magnet comes away from the sump plug?
Will it stick to the sump, or go off on a mission to destroy my engine?

No,the wife's Civic as a magnetic sump plug and after 4k it comes out with FA stuck to it maybe a very mild silt.

Sorry, Chimpo was suggesting gluing a magnet to the sump plug. I know my skill at gluing - if I tried it the magnet would fall off within 50 miles. Where would it go? Straight onto the sump, or flying around the engine?
A friend of mine took the sump off his car recently to put on a baffled one, and found one oil pickup bolt in the sump and the other one loose. Reckons he got away with a blown engine....

[Sardonicus]

QBee said:

Sorry, Chimpo was suggesting gluing a magnet to the sump plug. I know my skill at gluing - if I tried it the magnet would fall off within 50 miles. Where would it go? Straight onto the sump, or flying around the engine?
A friend of mine took the sump off his car recently to put on a baffled one, and found one oil pickup bolt in the sump and the other one loose. Reckons he got away with a blown engine....

It wouldn't have been the stray bolt getting tangled up in the reciprocating assembly that would of done the damage though but the fact the pick up was sucking up air rather than oil eventually but ...... if he was at the bolts last then needs his arse kicking

[MethylatedSpirit]

Sardonicus said:

QBee said:

Reading Chimpo's essay, I did wonder, knowing my uselessness with any form of glue, what if the magnet comes away from the sump plug?
Will it stick to the sump, or go off on a mission to destroy my engine?

No,the wife's Civic as a magnetic sump plug and after 4k it comes out with FA stuck to it maybe a very mild silt.

Magnets loose their power with an increase in temperature. However not completely.


The oil filter will do a good enough job on its own.

Edited by MethylatedSpirit on Wednesday 20th August 23:02

[ChimpOnGas]

If you drill the indent the magnet isn't going anywhere, it doesn't really need the epoxy as the magnet I've linked to is so strong it clings to the sump plug like a limpet.

The epoxy is just used as a belt & braces measure.

If by some miracle the magnet came free from the plug it'll never go on a journey around the engine, it'll simply cling to the steel sump which had a roof above where the plug screws in so it could never jump to the crank or rod.

I've seen lesser magnetic dump plugs pick up loose bolts, washers and particles of ferrous metal swarf all of which are much better held on the end of the dump plug than rattling around in the sump.

During my last oil change I inspected my magnet very carefully and all I found was a micron thin fine greyish silt right at the end, honestly it was next to nothing but I'm sure if you put it under a microscope you'd see ferrous metals.

But it does prove the magnet is doing its job & in my case the magnetic sump plug is in addition to my FilterMag which ultimately traps ferrous metal where it belongs in the filter.

Combine all this with the vastly more effective fiberglass element Cummins Fleetguard oil filter from V8 filters and I believe my engine has the very best protection it can get.

Oh & don't worry about that magnet losing its magnetism in the hot oil, follow my link & instructions above and it'll work just fine

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Thursday 21st August 01:00