Thread: Td5 Sump gasket ..... why they can leak

Hello all,

I have an 03my td5 130 and when a ~4 years old I read about the failures that had occurred due to the oil pump bolt coming loose. Rather than have it happen to me I decided to check it and dropped the sump. I replaced the sump with an after market gasket carefully following the procedure as outlined in the manual.
Last year, after many trips across the country, the sump started leaking in the rear nearside corner. I replaced the gasket with an aftermarket one, again carefully sealing as per the manual and ensuring the gasket was correctly aligned (one strand of cotton thread tied through a few sump holes makes this easier).
The sump started leaking on the offside rear corner after only a few kilometers. Grrrrrrr ...... I bought a genuine gasket, dropped the sump and studied them!
I'm guessing but it seems Land Rover have redesigned the mounting at the rear corners next to the bell housing and the corner most bolt goes through the gasket without the internal 'compression limiting' steel washer that is present at all the other mounting holes. There is however a redundant mounting hole in the corner of the gasket outboard of the corner bolt hole which does contain a steel washer embedded in the gasket rubber.
By putting a caliper across both the genuine and aftermarket products it seems the steel washer in the 'redundant hole' was poorly aligned during manufacture; it was offset in both gaskets with thick rubber one side and steel protruding the other side such that the thickness was greater than the thickness across the raised sealing ribs of the gasket. This issue is demonstrated by the galling observed on the corners of the alloy sump where the steel washer has impressed itself in the sump.
Before installing the latest gasket careful dressing of the gasket each side with a fine file so that the thickness of the erroneous corner washer was equal to the thickness of the thin part of the gasket ensured the raised ribs compressed and the sump now seals correctly, and I am back to a leak free machine, rare I know! Take care not to touch the raised sealing rib.
I have searched and have not found another reference reporting this issue and wondered if others have seen this before but put it down to crank seal, oil cooler, gear box....etc leaks (oil spread along bottom of gear and transfer boxes to handbrake back plate) as was recommended to me by a Land Rover specialist!
I've attached a couple of annotated pictures to clarify

.......peter

Originally Posted by fellipe

Hey peter, is that other bolt the number 7 in this pic?



What tool is needed for it? Should I remove it and add thread locker? What's its torque setting?

thanks

25Nm on relief valve cap.
Pete