Stripped sump plug

[bvudzichena]

I take my DII for servicing at the local Land Rover franchised dealer, but it would seem that this is no longer the smart thing to do.

It seems that the mechanic who worked on my truck the last time round has forgotten about working on DII's - now that there are all these nice shiney D3's around.

He took to the engine sump plug with a 12 point socket - rather than a 6 point socket.

Instead of torqueing the plug to 23Nm, he tightened it until the socket slipped - meaning there are now no points left on the plug and then to make matters worse, it seems he put loctite on the threads.

I've got a problem with a possible water leak, possible damaged head or a possible blown head gasket. I had to add water last night and saw that the engine oil level is now way above normal. Thing is, the oil isn't milky / light in colour so I'm a bit confused.

I then thought it may be a plan to drain the oil and look at what comes out to see if there's any water in it, then refill the engine to the correct level.

So this morning I hoisted the truck up and discovered the mess with the sump plug.

I first tried undoing it with a vise grip. No luck.

I then moved onto a small stilson and still no luck.

I'm thinking of drilling a hole into the plug, popping an eezee out in and removing the plug that way, but I don't know how thick the plug is. I would hate to drill into it, pop the eezee out in and see the plug disintegrate. I'm not in the mood for fitting a helicoil.

The alternative would be to use a chisel and hammer away at what's left of the plug, but I'm scared that I could damage the sump if I did this.

Has anyone been in this situation? Can anyone give advice, please.

 

[Disco69]

Hi,

The oil will need to be approx 20% water before it starts to look milky so there could still be water in it.

Have you smelt the oil? - common fault on the td5's is the fuel system leaking into the engine oil internally so you can't actually see a leak but the engine oil gradually increases as the sump fills up with diesel.

How much water did you have to put in it?

Have you looked to see if there are any water leaks elseware? ie. checked all the hoses, radiator, heater and carpets in the front footwells?

As for you're sump plug challenge, I realise the nearest dealer may be some distance away but is it not possible to take it back to the dealer that you say caused the problem and get them to sort it?

The last time I had a seized sump plug, I welded a nut onto the head of the plug and the combination of the heat from welding it and the fact I'd then got something to get my spanner onto allowed me to remove it.

Hope this helps

 

[bvudzichena]

Thanks for the advice.

I've topped up the water three times since last Monday. In total, I've probably added about 2.5 - 3 litres of water. I was always under the impression that even 200ml of water would make the oil go milky. Thing is, the oil is dark in colour - very dark.

I've just opened the filler cap and smelt the oil. Everything smelled normal, so I tried the dipstick and that also smelled normal.

I've checked the pipes while I was under the truck this morning and can't see any leaks. I did see some calcification on one pipe - so there was a leak some time in the past

I'm fortunate to be 7km from one dealer and 8km from the other. I called the dealership this morning and told the service adviser what his mechanic had done and his attitude was "stop being a backyard mechanic, let's book the vehicle in for two weeks from now and remove the plug that you stripped".

I'm not too keen on welding onto my TD5 - scared something goes up in smoke. I'm also not entirely conviced that plug is made from steel. The whole setup (sump and sump plug) look suspiciously like alloy...

 

[Roger Whittle]

I've just had my series II serviced by a non franchise garage - first time I've used them - and his comment was; 'Your sump plug was sooo tight!' They've changed the oil, so I guess they got it out okay, but I wonder what it looks like? Old carpet and overalls for me on Saturday.

By the way, full 'filters and fluids' service - diffs, autobox and xfer box - £352.95. (I asked for synthetic oil, I wasn't sure it was in there from the last service.) Does that sound about right.

They couldn't get the fuel filter in the rear wheel arch off; 'they were scared of wrecking the switch on it'. Any advice?

Roger.

 

[Abu]

Lets get this right...

You have a possible head gasket problem
You have a problem with the vehicle caused by the dealer (the knackered sump plug)
You have been accused of lieing in a manner so patronising its unbeleiveable!

and they want to book the vehicle in in 2 weeks time!!!! Why not immediatly??? Do they not want your custom?

I do hope you went ape sh*t at them

I lost it when my dealership salesman refused me the common courtesy of shaking my hand lol

 

[ncooper]

Hello Roger
In my humble opinion,screwing on the fuel filter tight enough to make impossible to remove,would have broken the plastic mounting in the first place.
The "switch",I assume to be the water sensor,has wires leading to it which just need to be unplugged.
The filter can then be screwed off,by hand.Once off,the water sensor can also be screwed off,by hand,out of the bottom of the filter.
I suppose the main dealer's "technician" probably massively overtightened both and your new garage didn't want to have to pay for a new filter mounting and water sensor in return for fitting a £4 filter.
£352.95 does seem rather steep,engine service filter set is £18+vat.at Paddock, about double for the same in a Land Rover box.
Last owner of our auto paid £34+vat for gearbox oil and (genuine) filter change,inc labour.That seems to leave just under £300 for engine oil,axle oil,labour and VAT.
So perhaps they could have dared to risk changing the fuel filter.

Regards,
Nick

 

[bvudzichena]

Lets get this right...

You have a possible head gasket problem
You have a problem with the vehicle caused by the dealer (the knackered sump plug)
You have been accused of lieing in a manner so patronising its unbeleiveable!

and they want to book the vehicle in in 2 weeks time!!!! Why not immediatly??? Do they not want your custom?

I do hope you went ape sh*t at them

I lost it when my dealership salesman refused me the common courtesy of shaking my hand lol

Age and treachery always overcome youth and exuberance...

It's much more beneficial for me to tell my peers what they did. It'll do them much more harm in the long run than any amount of screaming, shouting or jumping up and down.

We have two major dealerships here. The most damaging thing I could possibly do to Land Rover Pretoria was to book it in at Land Rover Centurion and tell them what their competition did.

 

[Roger Whittle]

Hello Roger
In my humble opinion,screwing on the fuel filter tight enough to make impossible to remove,would have broken the plastic mounting in the first place.
The "switch",I assume to be the water sensor,has wires leading to it which just need to be unplugged.
The filter can then be screwed off,by hand.Once off,the water sensor can also be screwed off,by hand,out of the bottom of the filter.
I suppose the main dealer's "technician" probably massively overtightened both and your new garage didn't want to have to pay for a new filter mounting and water sensor in return for fitting a £4 filter.
£352.95 does seem rather steep,engine service filter set is £18+vat.at Paddock, about double for the same in a Land Rover box.
Last owner of our auto paid £34+vat for gearbox oil and (genuine) filter change,inc labour.That seems to leave just under £300 for engine oil,axle oil,labour and VAT.
So perhaps they could have dared to risk changing the fuel filter.

Regards,
Nick

Thanks Nick, I'll look at that. In fact he did apologise for using 'genuine parts' because; 'they'd had a bad experience with OEM parts.' I've had a look round and they've even lubed the door hinges and detents.

Roger.

 

[bvudzichena]

It gets interesting.

Yesterday I carefully drilled the sump plug, popped an eezee out into the plug, got a tap handle and a pipe and very gently removed the old plug.

I collected all the (almost brand new) oil, looked at it and smelled it.

It isn't milky and it doesn't smell of diesel.

I then used said oil to refill the sump and had about 500ml left over once I'd filled it up. So somehow there was half a litre of something in the engine.

I then drained the oil and did a quick oil service (air filter, oil filter, diesel filter and engine oil) and topped it up with 7.2 litres of nice shiney new oil.

I've driven about 100km today and just checked the oil level. It's perfect.

Now it gets even more interesting - the water level is also perfect

I'll check everything again in the morning.