3 replies to this topic

[Chelsea_Pete]

Hi All
Foolishly I over-tighented my sump plug and stripped the thread, and decided to get it helicoiled rather than risk the dodgy looking self tapering repair plug that's out there.
On picking the car up the mechanic informed me that he'd been unwilling to bore out the sump too much, and didnt have the right sized imperial helicoils in, so has instead used a smaller helicoil, and adapted a spark plug to be used as the sump plug.

Now it works, and no more dripping oil, but my question is should I be worried that this improvised solution wont have the same magnetic pickup that the original plug has, and so risks swarf building up in my gearbox?

Cheers, Pete

[slidehammer]

It does sound a little bit of unusual method he has used to fit a spark plug. The good thing is you could try making your own sum plug using an old spark plug of the same thread and drilling it out a bit and gluing a round magnet to it. If for any reason it didn't work you still have your original sump plug spark plug to fall back on. I think regular oil changes are far more important than the magnetic trap for engine longevity.

[Spider]

Having a Magnet somewhere in the sump is a good idea for Oil Pump longevity. Being on the Sump Plug makes it serviceable.

 

There are aftermarket Plugs for (conventional) gearboxes available with the same thread as a Spark Plug  (M14 x 1.25) that have a Magnet in them, eg

https://www.mxstore....AiABEgK5JfD_BwE

 

[Chelsea_Pete]

Having a Magnet somewhere in the sump is a good idea for Oil Pump longevity. Being on the Sump Plug makes it serviceable.

 

There are aftermarket Plugs for (conventional) gearboxes available with the same thread as a Spark Plug  (M14 x 1.25) that have a Magnet in them, eg

https://www.mxstore....AiABEgK5JfD_BwE

Good call, reckon I'll replace with one of these on my next oil change, thanks
P