brown_d9
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 03:19 PM |
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Homemade Lowered Sump Leaking
Hi All,
After a little advice if possible.
We have a homemade lowered sump on our Zetec Locost, fabricated by us... Ally welded by a friend.
The car has a leak when hot, which could be coming from the sump, or could be a gearbox end crankshaft oil seal thats gone... bit hard to say.
I want to smother the welds with some sort of sealant to cross that off the list of possibilities.. Can anyone recomment a product to use?
Thanks
Dan
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 03:26 PM |
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When I shortened the steel sump on my x-flow I cleaned it up, sat it on some blotting paper, then filled it up with some water to a few inches above
the weld line. At first it showed some patches where the welds had leaked, but after a bit of re-welding it was all good.
Maybe you could try something like that?
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loggyboy
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 03:37 PM |
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Clean and Repaint it with a few coats..
Mistral Motorsport
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nick205
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 03:42 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
When I shortened the steel sump on my x-flow I cleaned it up, sat it on some blotting paper, then filled it up with some water to a few inches above
the weld line. At first it showed some patches where the welds had leaked, but after a bit of re-welding it was all good.
Maybe you could try something like that?
I've seen others test this way and resolve any leaks. You could say it's fiddle having to take the sump off the engine, but it seems to
me it's got to come off to be fixed so you might as well employ the cheap and easy way of identifying any weld leaks.
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steve m
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 03:42 PM |
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I had all this misory with a sump I welded on my xflow, and no matter what I did, from welding it up further, to adding JB weld over all the welds,
painting the outside in enamel paint, etc, I then sold it on ebay as "xflow modified sump, that leaks" for £50
and had a new sump made by a local welder for £120, and the new one has never leaked !!
steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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snapper
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 04:12 PM |
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POR 15 tank sealer will do the job
You'll need the kit with cleaner and etchprkmer but the actual tank dealer is amazing stuff
I eat to survive
I drink to forget
I breath to pi55 my ex wife off (and now my ex partner)
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coozer
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 04:57 PM |
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I welded mine up, sat on the bench full of oil for a couple days and no leaks.
Put it on the engine and yes, you can guess as soon as it was hot it leaked!!!
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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907
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 05:05 PM |
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The problem is that you will be able to clean off the oil from the areas that don't leak,
but oil seeping though the leak will stop anything sticking to it.
The chances are that a leak in an ally weld will be no more than a pinhole (gas pore)
so once found the pore can be sealed with a tap from a dot punch.
It can then be painted if you wish.
HTH
Paul G
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brown_d9
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 05:46 PM |
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Thanks for the ideas all, certainly some food for thought!
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02GF74
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 06:18 PM |
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putting sealant over the welds will contaminate them so will make it harder to weld - obvioulsy the same applies on the inside due to the oil.
if you don't want to remove from engine, then clean sump and dry it, then use talc to cover the sump, this will make it easy to spot the origin
of the oil but depending on location, may not narrow it down 100%
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UncleFista
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 06:45 PM |
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Sounds weird, but I promise it works 
Rub a bar of soap over the leaky part, try and shove soap into the seam. Clean off with a wet cloth and cover with araldite.
This was our temporary fix to get home once, it lasted a couple of years
[Edited on 17/11/16 by UncleFista]
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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mark chandler
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| posted on 17/11/16 at 07:13 PM |
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As it's an Ali sump start off by plannishing the welds, it will compress the metal into the holes and hopefully stop your problem.
It's always good to break out the hammer anyway on frustrating problems.
To prove its good fill with diesel and leave overnight.
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brown_d9
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| posted on 21/11/16 at 12:43 PM |
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Thanks everyone, gonna whip the sump off at the weekend and try all the various ideas... One of them must work!
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carse
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| posted on 15/12/16 at 12:19 PM |
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I had this on a shortened ali sump on a bike engine. Turns out it was leaking through a hairline crack around one of the lugs where one of the sump
bolts went through caused by a homemade baffle plate by the previous owner that wasn't uniform thickness.
When tightening the sump up it obviously torqued the ali and started a hairline crack. I snapped it off to see the cross section of the metal and it
was dark all the way through indicating a leak.
Maybe take a look around the areas where the sump bolts pass through to check for any cracks? Not saying it will be that, but just a thought from
experience.
Sean
http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=28450
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SJ
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| posted on 15/12/16 at 02:09 PM |
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When I shortened my first steel sump I tested it with paraffin and it leaked like a seive. After several attempts at re-weleding and grinding it sill
leaked so I gave up, painted it and fitted it. Not sure of it was the paint or that oil is thicker than paraffin but it didn't leak at all.
My advice would be give a good paint!
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brown_d9
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| posted on 21/12/16 at 10:15 AM |
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We took the sump of a week or so ago, and found the seal completely shot at the gearbox end so we are hoping it is that.
We filled the sump with boiling hot water (to open up any cracks / pin holes) and there wasnt a leak in site, filled much higher than the normal oil
level.
Will order a new seal and hope its leak free!
Now just 3 CV joints to replace and some new harness belts to fit and it will be ready for summer! :-)
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