[How To] Sump Plug Repair TDCI - 2.0L QXBA DW10 140PS

[cobrin]

You’ve heard it from your mates/friends/family members, read it a few times on various Forums or perhaps even discovered it yourself on your first oil change that you’ve done yourself.


Someone or Workshop has cross threaded/stripped cracked the sump on the sump plug.


That was me a day after buying the Mondeo and driving it home some 1700kms. The allen head plug was somewhat worn to accept the correct allen key and worse still was tight all the way out. I replaced the plug yet it always felt wrong on fitting it and when it finally bottomed out it had that gut wrenching feeling like ‘AWE!!! it’s gonna strip free’ .


I tried teflon, fibrous, smart-o-seal washers and they all made it easier on the plug but in the end it never gave me any relief to my anxiety (as little as it were). So Jan 2020 (after I completed that service I ordered a repair kit. An M14x1.5 Helicoil kit. It arrived but I had to wait till the next service to get it done. That’s fine I’ll wait till then. That day was Sunday 11Oct.20 but it didn’t go to plan, far from it I made it worse.


The drill bit is too big for any typical consumer drill chuck. They typically take 13mm’s max. So I trundle off to Bunnings and get a a reduced shank 14mm drill bit. I start to drill and it’s a bit confined but it’s going well. I get near the end and instead of the drill bit cutting through it pulls the drill bit into the sump and kicks the drill off it’s perpendicular to where I’m holding it and ovals the hole….OMFG!!! cuss cuss cuss, I decide it’s sump off at that moment. It’s Sunday and the car won’t be going for the missus come Monday.


I had removed the sump and cleaned it completely. For an engine that’s done over a quarter of a million kilometres and serviced every 15K kms it were clean and no sludge or carbon build up that I thought I’d see. It didn’t take much effort to clean let alone product to clean it with. A paintbrush and SCA Shift-it degreaser diluted 1:3 is all it took. It’s caustic so wear PPE.


I have a coffee break and search local Engineering and Machining/Fab workshops and send out some emails. The next morning I get a reply from one (and to this day only one) so I take it in for them to try and strike an arc to see if the sump will take a weld. It’s not just an aluminium sump it’s got a decent amount of magnesium. Magnesium strengthens aluminium and also makes it lighter, but it doesn’t like to be welded as it melts to easily and blows holes in it.


Yay...it took a weld so it can be welded. I did have a backup plan and were going to go a larger plug if need be. I had it welded and machined and it looks like no one ever touched it. I go to fit the old plug and it stops and binds up two threads into it….I spring for a new plug and it’s all good, so happy. It was easy to remove this sump and I mean easy. The turbo charge pipe is all that needs to be removed (two hose clamps and one mount bolt), you can access everything and drop the sump without issue.


I seal it all up and give it 2.5hrs to cure, I’m using industry spec sealant and although 15mins would suffice I headed out for some fitness activity that took 2.5hrs a bit of time for me (I’m losing weight you see). I finish off the service and do a shakedown run and no leaks it’s all good, I’m happy it’s done after all this time and more so that the quality is how it is. That was Friday but I wasn’t going to give it back to the missus till Saturday to give the engine bay a clean down and put the lower engine cover back on.


But it doesn’t end there….


For now onto the repair.

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