Saw a Raceline wet sump on eBay. Description: "It has a hairline fracture but still useable. Probably worth having it welded prior to use".

Sounded alright, so bid for it and won.

It arrived and I saw the crack... bigger than expected, but hey-ho. Left positive feedback (my standard reply..."Perfect. Thanks"... )

Sent it down to RaceLine and they tell me it's not useable in it's current condition and it's not worthy of repair (would cost more to repair than to buy a brand new pan!).

Bugger...

I've sent a message to the vendor explaining all this and asked for a refund as it turns out that it's "not as described".

He's not got back to me.

What's the thinking of the LC masses? Do I have grounds for opening a dispute if he gives me the 'tough' treatment?

Why would it cost so much to repair. What's it made from? Surely it just needs cleaning and welding?!?!

I can't see why not.

If I'd sold it to you and you had written evidence from Raceline that it was u/s I would refund you.

It would be the right thing to do.

Stu

tbh were you really expecting raceline to not want to sell you a new one? not that I'm saying anything negative about them but I doubt they usually do repairs.

post a photo of the crack on here and maybe someone will be able to tig weld it

Dunno... that's just what RaceLine has said. I'm thinking - their product, so they're best positioned to give advise.

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Originally posted by scootz
Dunno... that's just what RaceLine has said. I'm thinking - their product, so they're best positioned to give advise.

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What pisses me off most is that it was surplus to my requirements, so I sold it to Micael on here... I was concerned about sending it to Sweden and it being u/s so that's why I ran it past RaceLine... I didn't want a fellow LCB member getting ripped-off! I've no confidence in selling it on by myself now!

If its only cracked then a weld will fix it. They are cast so the alloy is weldable.

I would agree with Ben....

Any pics of the damage?

David

tough one that but does tend to smell of " buyer be ware"

he may have looked at it and genuinely thought it was fixable .... or he may have contacted reacline you have done and then lied.

kinda hard to tell.

it was as desribed as he thought it was fixable as in theory everything is fixable but at what cost? and if it was that easy/heap to fix, why didn't he do it prior to listing?

sorry to say but I reckon you're onto a loser here.

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Originally posted by scootz
Dunno... that's just what RaceLine has said. I'm thinking - their product, so they're best positioned to give advise.

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RzceLine tell me it looks like it's taken a hit. Vendor had got back to me to say that it ran on a competition Caterham for over a year with minimal leakage from the crack, but he will liaise with RaceLine and come back to me.

Fair enough, but I wouldn't want to be running a sump with a crack in it for any length of time... it would need fixed or replaced!

raceline will want you to by a new one. simple as that. even if it was broke in 3 seperate pieces it would probably still be fixable.

but, as said, pictures tell a thousand words

It's still at RaceLine... will post pics when I get it back.

I would say it was possibly Raceline trying to sell you a new one OR with them being a reputable company them not wanting anyone to sell on a sump repaired by them as being fine because it had been repaired by them (ie an 'official' repair) and them getting future grief if it failed.

A good ally welder can do wonders so I can't see it being scrap..... but it wont ever be worth half of what an undamaged Raceline sump is

Welding will fix the crack but the heat will distort the part. The mating face will probably need to be machined to flat again so that the gasket will seal.

I can't see a reason why you can't fix it, but it may be cheaper to replace than repair.

How bad is the crack? Could the outer surface be roughed up and metal epoxy be stuck to it to seal the crack? Frost sell a stick of oil sealer that you could rub in to the crack to stop the leak.

Thanks for the advise chaps!

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Fair enough, but I wouldn't want to be running a sump with a crack in it for any length of time... it would need fixed or replaced!

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Yeh baby
Only issue will be cleaning the ali first.
If you want to be really fancy and don't want to risk distorting the metal with TIG welding you could use technoweld. Very sticky stuff!!

I just want to give Scootz credit for how he has deal this situation.

If everyone was this honest, the world would be a much better place.

I'll hope it will turn out to the best.

Scootz, U got mail

Thanks for that Micael... appreciate it!

I've been ripped off in the past myself and I wouldn't want to be the source of disappointment for someone else!

Bellhousing will be heading for Sverige tomorrow mate!

Hope you all get it sorted. Being a bit to quick with the positive ebay feedback caught me out once. Considering the number of seriously chopped alloy sumps you see on here I would be surprised if it wasn't saveable.

Lesson learned in that regard!

Yeah doesn't sound like the seller really did anything wrong, it would be nice of him to offer a refund and if I was in that position I'd offer a new one for the difference in price. Do sumps come under much pressure? I mean is it a case of fixing it so it won't leak or fixing it so it won't tear apart at 80mph?

bearing in mind that a standard zetec sump has the bottom cut off and a new plate welded on I think welding a crack is a small affair. No doubt raceline dont want to repair as a replacement is a £250 sale and also their reputation.

Unless its really bad, no reason why a good welder won't be able to repair it

Screw it onto something flat & strong before welding to minimise distortion and it should be fine

Seller told you it was cracked, so very harsh to open up any kind of dispute imho. Sending it to raceline is like taking your car to a main dealer - you'll just get bull****ed then robbed! Any decent ally welder will be able to repair it in 10 minutes. As a locostbuilder you must have seen countless pictures of cut and shut welded ally sumps, bellhousings, airboxes, intakes, etc, etc, you name it, all happily doing their jobs.

Liam