Thread: Sump Plug and Helicoil on TD5

Originally Posted by DCPAus

Hi

My Sump Plug thread is stripped and I am leaking oil, so I now want to do a Helicoil, to repair it.

How hard is it
How do I do it
Any other tips while I am under the engine for sorting out other potential oil leak problems?

Cheers

It is very easy to do, you may be better off getting it done at an engineering shop if you dont already have the Kit. Otherwise you will have a number of coils left over which you have paid for but may never use.
The proper way to do it is to pull the sump off to ensure you remove all swarf (chips/ shavings). I know of folks who have "saved" some time by leaving the sump on and trusting the oil strainer and filters to catch anything.
The Kit will contain somewhere between 5 and 10 coils, a Tap, Clearance drill, Fitting Tool and Tang removal tool.
You run a clearance drill through and then the Helicoil / Recoil (whatever brand ) Tap through. Using the tool provided in the kit wind in the coil to the required depth. Depending on the kit you may have to consider removing some of the excess coil on the inside. Otherwise you just break of a small drive tang and you are done. Clean it all up properly and refit using a new gasket.

You can check the oil pump bolt while you are at it!

cheers

Is the sump made from aluminium or steel? If steel, would it not be easier to bronze on a new fitting? That way you would not have to remove the sump.

Aaron.

Lovely cast alloy!!

I reckon removing the sump is the go regardless of steel. Ive seen a bit of bang from igniting remnant sump oil during a weld in situ.

Originally Posted by strangy

It is very easy to do, you may be better off getting it done at an engineering shop if you dont already have the Kit. Otherwise you will have a number of coils left over which you have paid for but may never use.
The proper way to do it is to pull the sump off to ensure you remove all swarf (chips/ shavings). I know of folks who have "saved" some time by leaving the sump on and trusting the oil strainer and filters to catch anything.
The Kit will contain somewhere between 5 and 10 coils, a Tap, Clearance drill, Fitting Tool and Tang removal tool.
You run a clearance drill through and then the Helicoil / Recoil (whatever brand ) Tap through. Using the tool provided in the kit wind in the coil to the required depth. Depending on the kit you may have to consider removing some of the excess coil on the inside. Otherwise you just break of a small drive tang and you are done. Clean it all up properly and refit using a new gasket.

You can check the oil pump bolt while you are at it!

cheers

Thanks for that, any idea what size Helicoil, my Haynes Manual doesn't give thread size (I don't mind having some extra Helicoils over as always useful)

Originally Posted by strangy

Lovely cast alloy!!

And they say modern techniques are progress?

Aaron.

I have used many helicoils in the past, the last one being on the exhaust studs joining header to pipe, they work very well and are easy to do.

Having never done a sump thread, I think I would risk doing this with the sump installed. If careful while drilling and tapping, very little swarf will end up in the sump. You could then strain your old oil back through the motor a couple of times (with the plug out) to ensure any swarf there does get flushed out.

Doing it this way, the helicoil would be better screwed onto the plug, rather than the sump thread, then the plug screwed home. Otherwise the helicoil may screw itself through into the sump as the plug is fitted.

I will now sit back and wait to be shot down in flames.

I encountered a similar problem when I gave my wife's Alfa its first oil change. Same situation; alloy sump and stripped thread ... and it was Saturday afternoon.

I priced a helicoil kit - $170 and it had to be ordered in (It's an 18x1.25mm thread).
I then did a bit of looking in the Yellow pages and found a local guy who makes a living out of repairing threads and removing broken bolts and studs. He was heading past our way from another job and was able to do the job that afternoon. It was done with the sump on for $80. I figured that was cheap compared to the helicoil kit. My other option was to remove the sump and take it to an engineering shop to be repaired. By the time I'd paid for a gasket and the helicoil I reckon I would have spent the $80. The bonus was that I didn't have to do it.

Here you go. Try this guy ...

http://www.whitepages.com.au/wp/busS...ount+Eliza+VIC

Would you even need to helicoil it. Perhaps at a wreckers find a sump plug one size up and then drill and tap your sump to size. This would be cheeper that a helicoil although helicoil would never need to be replaced in the future. Taps are relatively cheep VS helicoil kit.