Discussion
Where is this on the sump and I assume this is from the inside? Does is go all the way through ? Did it leak ? Is that another crack on the other side of that flat area.
Bearing in mind that it is difficult to tell just from the photo it looks like a stress corrosion crack as it wanders around and isn't obviously related to the normal working loads (which I suspect should be near zero). There is also a chance it is a thermal contraction crack and it has always been there. This assumes there isn't a big ding on the other side where it got hit by something. If it doesn't leak , isn't a structural component and it isn't obviously impact damage then I would be tempted to leave it be as welding it up might just accelerate future cracking.
Bearing in mind that it is difficult to tell just from the photo it looks like a stress corrosion crack as it wanders around and isn't obviously related to the normal working loads (which I suspect should be near zero). There is also a chance it is a thermal contraction crack and it has always been there. This assumes there isn't a big ding on the other side where it got hit by something. If it doesn't leak , isn't a structural component and it isn't obviously impact damage then I would be tempted to leave it be as welding it up might just accelerate future cracking.
The cracks are around the area that is surrounding the oil pickup
The baffle seems to be made of fairly thick steel, so how it has suffered what I presume are stress cracks is a mystery to me
I'll take it apart and post some more pictures later
The baffle seems to be made of fairly thick steel, so how it has suffered what I presume are stress cracks is a mystery to me
I'll take it apart and post some more pictures later
Edited by ukkid35 on Tuesday 18th February 09:21
Sorry- i'm not familiar with the cerb sump layout; is that a straight (shear) line shown cracked? it could be an issue with the original weld prep. it will need grinding out in a vee shape to repair. i'd also consider drilling the crack extremities to prevent further propagation after repair. I assume its steel (more chance of repairing than ally) good luck
There's some baffling under the plate, you can see weld penetration showing through on mine.
The half moon cut out on yours looks like it's hard up against the sump (Could be camera angle) that with weld penetration could have made the plate brittle. If you haven't removed it yet, you'll be in for a shock, it weights a ton!
OK i understand now, I thought it was a crack in the casting. Well the cracks are just about where you would expect it to fatigue as the right hand one is along the edge of the underlying casting which supports it.and the right had one is about where it would flex at the end of the reinforcing plate. If it was me i would take it off and knock up a new one, its only a bit of folded sheet. Welding it up would probably be OK, it will crack again but that should take another 20 years.If you want to be really belt and brace weld a reinfocement strip over the crack.
Rufus Roughcut said:
There's some baffling under the plate, you can see weld penetration showing through on mine.
The half moon cut out on yours looks like it's hard up against the sump (Could be camera angle) that with weld penetration could have made the plate brittle. If you haven't removed it yet, you'll be in for a shock, it weights a ton!
However it appears to have just shifted the cracks to either side of the plate
I'm getting it welded and will post pics of the repair when I get it back
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