Suffered the "rare" loss of sump plug
Discussion
On my way back from a spot of fishing on Loch Corrib, I smelt a hot oil smell, looked down at the oil pressure gauge to see it had dropped to 20 and was still falling 
Off with the ignition and pulled over. Got out to see a pool of oil spreading out under the car, after the initial gloom 
I had a feel around the sump and found the sump plug had gone! Called the AA, low loader to Galway Jaguar/ Land Rover (which seemed to be the obvious choice) sadly the parts department didn’t have one, total dispare 
until the service manager came out and said "who's is the Griff 500 out there" I owned up and he enthusiastically got the car into the workshop, citing that he was a big TVR fan and they are rarely seen in Ireland (I wonder why!) after much head scratch and four mechanics, they disappeared under a classic MGA that was sitting in the corner, half an hour later I was on my way 
with the underneath of the Griff all clean, 6 litres of oil and an MGA diff filler plug 
First class service! Seems one of the many enormous speed humps I had as carefully as possible transversed 
had knocked the hex type sump plug and loosed it, luckily there was no harm done as she still had oil pressure and about half her oil until I stopped. I have just ordered a Steve Heath magnetic sump plug and will be investigating a sump guard with our local rally engineer. 
Off with the ignition and pulled over. Got out to see a pool of oil spreading out under the car, after the initial gloom I had a feel around the sump and found the sump plug had gone! Called the AA, low loader to Galway Jaguar/ Land Rover (which seemed to be the obvious choice) sadly the parts department didn’t have one, total dispare until the service manager came out and said "who's is the Griff 500 out there" I owned up and he enthusiastically got the car into the workshop, citing that he was a big TVR fan and they are rarely seen in Ireland (I wonder why!) after much head scratch and four mechanics, they disappeared under a classic MGA that was sitting in the corner, half an hour later I was on my way with the underneath of the Griff all clean, 6 litres of oil and an MGA diff filler plug First class service! Seems one of the many enormous speed humps I had as carefully as possible transversed had knocked the hex type sump plug and loosed it, luckily there was no harm done as she still had oil pressure and about half her oil until I stopped. I have just ordered a Steve Heath magnetic sump plug and will be investigating a sump guard with our local rally engineer. Edited by groomvroom on Tuesday 15th May 16:46
steve-v8s said:
Had a few drops of oil on the floor under mine a while ago which turned out to be looseness of the bung. Make a point of taking a spanner to it now whenever I am under there. Think the theory about it undoing on speed humps may be valid.
Might be worth a mention that while under the car checking the sump plug is not loose, to also check the sump bolts are tight. When I first got my car I had an oil leak which was rectified by putting about half a turn on all of the sump bolts.
Edited by fastandcurious on Tuesday 15th May 18:59
fastandcurious said:
steve-v8s said:
Had a few drops of oil on the floor under mine a while ago which turned out to be looseness of the bung. Make a point of taking a spanner to it now whenever I am under there. Think the theory about it undoing on speed humps may be valid.
Might be worth a mention that while under the car checking the sump plug is not loose, to also check the sump bolts are tight. When I first got my car I had an oil leak which was rectified by putting about half a turn on all of the sump bolts.
Edited by fastandcurious on Tuesday 15th May 18:59
They all do that Sir
Pasco said:
I put one of Steve Heaths round ones on mine and i feel alot safer now, no doubt some kind person will put a link to Steves site
and i feel alot safer now, no doubt some kind person will put a link to Steves site www.tvrextras.co.uk
Edited by shpub on Wednesday 16th May 08:37
dnb said:
The Batty lockwired the sump plug on mine to stop this happening. He told me it was more common than a lot of people realise.
How can you 'not realize' that the sump plug has fallen out?
Unless you're in the habbit of grounding the car over speed bumps, I don't see why it should be an issue. If you are grounding out a lot, you would be better to solve that underlying problem.
GreenV8S said:
dnb said:
The Batty lockwired the sump plug on mine to stop this happening. He told me it was more common than a lot of people realise.
How can you 'not realize' that the sump plug has fallen out?
Unless you're in the habbit of grounding the car over speed bumps, I don't see why it should be an issue. If you are grounding out a lot, you would be better to solve that underlying problem.
As I said, Irish roads, I have never had a problem in England and Wales, the speed humps in Wexford have to be seen to be belived, fitting a differnt sump plug has got to be easier than tackeling the underlying problem, the Southern Ireland highways authority.
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