Down in the Sumps

[Rusty's Uncle]

Finaly got round to changing the sump on my car today. The one that was fitted was probably the original 38 year old one and the 5 air cooling channels on the underside were half stoved in & full of old crud so very little air was being blown through to cool the oil. The one I fitted was pretty similar but before I had it powder coated I hammered steel strips into the channels to open them up. Nice healthy flow of air through there now  [-/

[Rusty's Uncle]

Forgot to mention that with the sump off I could see that the gauze at the base of the oil suction tube was about 50% clogged by some sort of sticky bits. Not entirely sure but I think it was old gasket sealant where someone in the past has been a bit overzealous with its application . Be warned 

[gsxr126]

Yep, Ive seen that done with sikaflex and as you said rusty, overzealous application, usually to the sump gasket results in the oil pickup getting clogged. Your lucky as the engine i saw was stuffed due to oil starve. Over applications in other gasket areas usually end up in the radiator on water cooleds

[Rusty's Uncle]

  The original sump was in a very messy condition and the stoved in cooling vents were blocked with years of oily sludge build up. I hammered in a flat steel section to open up the vents then wondered how I could clean this thing. Ended up tipping a "little" petrol into the air inlet then just put a match to it 
OK a little unconventional but it worked a treat after it burnt away for about 15 mins  [-/

[GTMaster]

Cool    [-/

I had to apply quite a bit of that silicone sealant as there was a small leak with the new seal (the sump unfortunetly isn't straight in places) I applied it to both sides of the sump seal. It helped but there's still a small film  of oil in two places (at opposite corners of the sump). The dipstick rubber isn't in too good shape either... keeping an eye on the oil level (so far so good ).
I cleaned out a fair amount of gunk from the sump cooling vents as well, now i can feel the air coming out the other end when the engine's running  [-/

[Rusty's Uncle]

  If I had planned ahead I could have cooked egg & chips in there 
As for the oil sealing of the sump gasket , with a gasket that thick if it leaks the the problem is probably not the gasket and I try not to use any extra sealant. The main problem I found on a few sumps is that enthusiastic "mechanics" have over tightened the sump bolts over the years so the area around the bolt hole is deformed so even if you fit a new gasket it is less likely to seal as that section bottoms out and the gasket does not get a a fair chance of sealing. With the sump off it is easy to use the ball end of a hammer to tap it back to shape  [-/

[Rusty's Uncle]

Thought I would revive this "Sump-tuous" thread  for Bella Donna.
 Normal gasket should be fine but when the sump is off put a straight edge across the mounting holes / flange to check for signs of over tightening & as I said before the ball end of a hammer is ideal for tapping the hole area back into shape. When I refitted my sump I had a few old Morris Minor sump washers that are oval in shape and made from spring steel so they spread the load much better. Also the normal large washers do "dish" with over tightening so I have also refitted those but turned them round so they push back into shape & spread the load  [-/

[UnaBellaDonna]

I don't know what to applaud more, your comedic stylings or mechanical know-how! :arty:

[Allan]

A couple of points on this subject. I have found that all Fiat steel sumps tend to distort when over tightened with the area around the bolt holes the worst place. I always check the sump for flatness and then place an appropriate sized deep socket (borrowed from someone elses toolbox) in a vice then go around the sump tapping down the distortion from the mounting face. A good thick washer will certainly help and if neccessary you can make washers out of a piece of flat steel, but making sure that the sump bolts are long enough. I never use silicon type sealers on sump gaskets for two reasons. Firstly the sealer squishes out and blocks the oil pickup as others have mentioned and secondly it lubricates the gasket and allows it to be squashed ot of the gap between the sump and the engine casing.

[GTMaster]

I can only agree with the above... lack of a proper vice i used the silicon gasket method...

[GTMaster]

Thought i'd mention my weekend program...
Well, the sump gasket caught up with me. On Friday after coming home and stopping in the car park at the shops i noticed a palm size oil puddle under the car In the garage i looked under to check where it was coming from and saw that a piece of the gasket from the rear of the sump had fallen out and the leaking oil dripped onto the flywheel which flicked the oil everywhere. Off came the sump and the gasket was like in the picture...

I had bought a spare gasket just in case as i had plans on replacing it but since it didn't leak much i thought i'd leave it. Cleaned the sump off and started to hammer away at it as it was fairly out of shape... Ran around town directly after fitting it and did a good little run today on my way home (hit 100  ) to make sure the oil would warm up and since then not a drop!
Next up is finding a way to stop the small leaks from the gearbox...