Removing stuck sump plug.

[Uber_Matt]

This morning i took a trip to supercheap and bought 5l of HPR30, a filter and an oil drain bucket + funnel.

Upon returning home i put the bucket under my car (92 VP 3.8L) and tried to undo the sump plug. It wouldnt budge. I thought maybe its left hand thread, nope, still didnt budge. I saturated it in RP7 and left it for 20mins, nope, still stuck. I tapped it with a hammer and then tried to undo it, nope, still stuck. I have been trying since 11am this morning to undo this damn thing and i cant do it!

Does anybody have any ideas as to how i could get this damn thing off? It would VERY much be appreciated.


Matt.

[geta]

yank on it harder, or use a longer spanner, or breaker bar. Make sure your turning it to the left (anticlockwise) ... righty tighty, lefty loosey :dodgy:

-dave

[Shounak]

Use a longer one, if you have one.. Best advice..

Use your whole body, like you're rowing.. That often works..

[Uber_Matt]

yank on it harder, or use a longer spanner, or breaker bar. Make sure your turning it to the left (anticlockwise) ... righty tighty, lefty loosey :dodgy:

-dave

Im not particularly keen on yanking on it any harder, i dont want to strip it. From the position i am lying in to reach it, left would be clockwise anyway, not anticlockwise.

[Shounak]

Is it slipping when you yank it? If so, then it will probably strip it.. Otherwise, go for it..

[Uber_Matt]

Well i cant feel any slippage when im yanking on it, it jsut doesnt move. Its hard to get any leverage whilst lying on your back too. I might give it another go tomorrow arvo, i have to go to work in 2mins anyway.

[kra23y]

i had the same prob, i just used a hammer and chisel, i kept shocking it till it started turning, then i just threw the spanner on it and come of with ease

[mouce]

If you don't mind running the risk of blowing yourself up, heating it up with an oxy torch would loosen it a bit. Or if you don't feel like doing that, if you've got any way of cooling it right down (got any dry ice kicking around?), the contraction due to the cold is normally enough to just 'break' whatever is holding it in.

Of course there's nothing like a 3ft lenth of steel pipe on the end of a bar to help undo it! That would be my first choice.

[holden#1]

sump plugs that tight! dry ice is one i shall have to remember. where do you purchase from?

[Boonz]

u tried banging it up with a hammer to crack the thread???? works sometimes and wont need a new sump plug after wards

[timbra_88]

Take it off with a rattle gun, trust me, it will work. All u need it.
1. Air compressor
2. Rattle gun
3. Exact fitting socket

Just stick her on and rattle away, it will come str8 out...

[Emackulation]

use 2 ring spanners, one to fit nicely over the nut then get another for leaverage. will come off, the long the leaverage u have the easier, just dont thread the nut. And why do ppl tighten sump plugs so tight, ****in reatrds.

[VTSSDUDE]

Just get a really good ring spanner, and put brute force into it, or put some load on the spanner in the anti-clockwise. Then bash it with a hammer.
But breaker bar is sounding good for your situation.

[mouce]

sump plugs that tight! dry ice is one i shall have to remember. where do you purchase from?

That dry-ice trick is actually a really old school computer geek trick. In the olden days it wasn't uncommon for computer hard drives to just seize up. Putting them in the freezer overnight caused some components to shrink more than others, thus freeing the seized mechanism.

When they were defusing bombs in WWII they used cryoliquids, normally liquid oxygen, to 'freeze' the detonator, which made it shrink so they could remove it without the use of excessive force.

Same theory here, as for where to get the Dry-Ice from. A lot of those 'diet' companies who deliever frozen meals pack them with dry-ice to keep them frozen, if you know anyone who gets meals that way, ask them for it. Failing that, I guess places like BOC might stock it, if not they should be able to tell you where to get it.

Liquid nitrogen would also be a good way to do it. Just make sure that you don't put too much force on the bolt until it's come back to normal temperature, the extreem cold can make the metal brittle until it heats up again.

Remember the idea is to use the cold to make it shrink then come back to normal size. So freeze it, then have a go about 10 minutes later. I don't want you snapping the head off the bolt.

[AndyVKSSA]

get a tourque wrench onto it and tap it around with a hammer if u cant push it around yaself

[defa]

just use a straight sided socket
.._
/ ..\
\ _/
that shaped.. they don't usually slip as much. and as everyone else has said.. use a breaker bar..

[Don Sutton]

1] Use a punch which is the same or similar diameter to the plug.
2] Place it firmly against the flat face of the plug ie the axis of the plug and punch are inline.
3] Hit the end of the punch with a hammer.
4] use a six point spanner or socket to loosen.
5] Replace sump plug seal before refitting.

Do Not!!
1] Use heat as you would need to heat the sump without heating the plug and is unlikely to be successful given a sump full of oil.
2] Dry ice against the plug - how would you hold it and if your'e lying down underneath guess what it would do to your eye if you dropped it and thats where it landed.


Last resort measure.
Drill plug with a drill size suitable for a large 'ezy out' and remove remove using easy out then replace plug.
or
Carefully remove head of plug so that pressure is removed from the thread then tap around using a centre punch or chisel.
or
Remove sump and send to engineering shop to be drilled out.
Either will require a new plug.

[Uber_Matt]

Well i got it. I ended up putting the car up on ramps and attaching a handle from a hydraulic jack to the end of my breaker bar and then yanking on it. MY car is now sitting in the garage with a drain bucket under its sump as type this.

Thanks for the suggestions fellas, much appreciated.

[mouce]

1]
Do Not!!
1] Use heat as you would need to heat the sump without heating the plug and is unlikely to be successful given a sump full of oil.
2] Dry ice against the plug - how would you hold it and if your'e lying down underneath guess what it would do to your eye if you dropped it and thats where it landed.

1. You don't have to heat the sump, you can just heat the plug, while the plug will swell, the change in size of the plug while imperceptable to the eye should be enough to 'break' whatever is causing it to be seized.

2. Never heard of an icecream tub? And what idiot would lie directly under the icecream tub full of dry ice anyway? Common sense says that you lie out to the side so that you can watch the condensation 'fog' that forms from it. Seriously, have you ever played with dry ice? You can hold it in your bare hands if you're careful with it. I specialised in cryophysics at uni, you wanna talk low temperatures? I'm all yours.

[geta]

I specialised in cryophysics at uni, you wanna talk low temperatures? I'm all yours.

ooo ooo liquid nitrogen is fun to play with .. we used to use it to cool the SEM's... and snap freeze plants, ants,... and anything else pointless :P

-dave

[Don Sutton]

2. Never heard of an icecream tub? And what idiot would lie directly under the icecream tub full of dry ice anyway? Common sense says that you lie out to the side so that you can watch the condensation 'fog' that forms from it. Seriously, have you ever played with dry ice? You can hold it in your bare hands if you're careful with it. I specialised in cryophysics at uni, you wanna talk low temperatures? I'm all yours.

OK OK
I have used dry ice to carry out low temperature fuel pump tests where the customer wanted the pump to pump fuel at -40deg C and the refrigeration unit would not go down that low. The dry ice was used to assist the refrigeration unit. The test was not that successful as the moisture in the air froze on the fuel pump mechanism and stopped it working anyhow. It was a test devised by the existing pump manufacturer who did not want us to manufacture the pump. It was manufactured under licence by the pump designer and we also had a licence. (its complicated but it centres around a car company not meeting the 80% local content regulations of the 80's) This car company looked at what could be made in Australia then asked their current supplier to submit a testing schedule that we were requested to comply with. As some of the parts were sourced from the same place as the original supplier we were able to get them to agree that the product would be OK. We manufactured the pump for just 6 months and the car company found another market to export the car to so this put them back over the 80% and not wanting to upset the original supplier they went back. I worked 7 days a week on 12 hour shifts on ths job for about 3 months as when the part complied the spec was doubled.

[mouce]

@geta: ever make liquid nitrogen icecream? Or a nitrogen 'bomb'?

Pumping fuel at -40degrees? It would be as dense as all get out. If you could get it to work properly, that would be an awesome way to get a bit more power wouldn't it?

[Don Sutton]

@geta: ever make liquid nitrogen icecream? Or a nitrogen 'bomb'?

Pumping fuel at -40degrees? It would be as dense as all get out. If you could get it to work properly, that would be an awesome way to get a bit more power wouldn't it?

I think you would get more power by getting the air temperature down as more air would be in the cylinders producing better cylinder fill and raising the compression pressure.