Why me??????????????????

[curiousyellow]

i'm not having much luck with cars!

had my Octy in the garage since thurs morning to have the thermostat changed and a service due to problems noted in an earlier thread:

http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/engine-warning-light/154902/

Garage rings to say, "yea the thermostat was knackered...but, the supplier sent the wrong one and the replacement wont arrive till friday lunch"!

oh well, good & bad news i thought, until he phoned back a few hours later to say that when he unscrewed the sump plug to drain the oil, it's stripped all the thread off the sump! AND he can't locate the correct sized Hellicoil to rethread it!

He said this can be quite common with aluminium sumps, but i've never heard this before! Can't do without the car over the weekend and if its still not ready by monday im going to scream!

Took 2 1/2 hours to get to work on 2 buses this morning!

[Guest westallc]

ask for a courtsey car they messed it up they can provide a car simple:thumbup:

[mikey vrs]

To say they messed it up is a bit harsh clive,a thread can strip for many reasons,somebody may of cross threaded it last time,ally sumps are prone to the threads stripping,this could happen to you or me when we next drain our oil! if the garage is a small indy they may not have a loan car to lend out,sadly this is what happens sometimes when you work on cars,things dont always go to plan! if id of done this job i wouldnt say it was my fault! sadly another example of blame the mechanic! hopefully curoius yellow they can get it sorted so you get your car back at the weekend!

[Guest westallc]

yep blame the mechanic:thumbup: as one myself i dont mind lol:D

[Bodge]

Blame Skoda! They are the ones that decided to fit a steel plug in an aluminium sump!

On my first oil change I swapped out the plug for the aluminium ECS one. Much safer.

Anyway, a new sump pan can't cost that much surely....

[dieselV6]

The sump plug is steel because it is also magnetic. Not that making an aluminium plug with a magnet is impossible...

Why o why do garages keep removing the sump plug? It is much easier, faster AND more thorough to suck the oil out via the dipstick tube - this is what most Audi/VW/Skoda garages do nowadays.

I prefer DIY and use Sealey TP69 oil extractor, use the thinnest tube and with this oil change takes about 5min-10min including the filter replacement. Every time it takes out more oil than when removing a sump plug ( because you can take out oil from oil cooler too). The difference is about 0.3l, or 1/2 pint.

Anyway, after you get the thread fixed you may want to use garage that does not remove the plug - less pain every time.

[iep]

Anyone used one of these oil extractors on the Octy vRS? I tried one on my VW polo a few years ago but the pipe was too wide to fit down the dipstick tube so I took it back. I'd be keen to get one if it works on the vRS engine.

Cheers,

iep

[Bodge]

The sump plug is steel because it is also magnetic. Not that making an aluminium plug with a magnet is impossible...

Why o why do garages keep removing the sump plug? It is much easier, faster AND more thorough to suck the oil out via the dipstick tube - this is what most Audi/VW/Skoda garages do nowadays.

I prefer DIY and use Sealey TP69 oil extractor, use the thinnest tube and with this oil change takes about 5min-10min including the filter replacement. Every time it takes out more oil than when removing a sump plug ( because you can take out oil from oil cooler too). The difference is about 0.3l, or 1/2 pint.

Anyway, after you get the thread fixed you may want to use garage that does not remove the plug - less pain every time.

Yeah my ECS aluminium one is also magnetic (it's got an insert).

I can't see using an extractor being better than doing it properly and taking the sump plug out. What about any lumps of crud that sitting in the bottom of the sump?

Guess it's personal preference. Maybe drain from the plug first, then try the extractor to get and dregs out. Best of both worlds!

[andy-fisher]

I had the same thing with my sump and it was a Skoda dealer that did it. They still charged my dad for a new sump but after many arguments, based on its full dealer service history, they refunded him and gave compensation. A new sump wasn't as cheap as you would think. I will try to dig out the bill and let you know.

[aj oki oki oki]

dieselv6 wot are you on about, wot do you think a sump/drain plug is for ???? suck it out are you crazy you wont get more than 3 litres out lol

[Browny_37]

I can appreciate what stripped threads are like matey, the ones for the inlet manifold on my car came out with the bolt when i was investigating a squealing noise i was experiencing.

I'd rather warm the engine up and take the sump plug out.

I changed the oil on a 1.2 Clio that was desperately in need of a service, problem being the new crush ring didnt squash right and started dripping.

So the next day i dropped the oil into a clean tray, after covering 25miles there were chunks of sludge in the filter i put the oil through before re using it seeming as it was expensive oil.

[dieselV6]

dieselv6 wot are you on about, wot do you think a sump/drain plug is for ???? suck it out are you crazy you wont get more than 3 litres out lol

I just love these comments - especially from folk who never tried it before

4.5l - 4.6l, actually, and like I said, if you take sump plug out and drain oil, you still have .2l-.3l left in the oil cooler. If there's crude in the oil and it flows, it will get sucked out. If it does not flow, don't count on it leaving the sump via the plug hole either.

Lots of oil extractors out there nowadays. I used Pela 6000 and Sealey TP69, with the latter being a lot better because it can be operated single-handed. In both cases, use the thinnest tube and it has to go all the way inside dipstick.

Note that this is different from attaching a hose to dipstick and sucking out the oil - this does not really work on most engines, yet there are kits that advertise just that..

[dewaryboy]

A lot of garages use an oil extractor,these days,u have no option but to use one on a smart car,they have no sump plug,when i worked for fiat,they had a habit of stripping sump plugs.

[aj oki oki oki]

i have tryed it before and its ******** lol im a mechanic and have been for the last 9 years. a sump plug is there for a reason

[dieselV6]

i have tryed it before and its ******** lol im a mechanic and have been for the last 9 years. a sump plug is there for a reason

No it is not. It was there because it was there 50 years ago. There are now cars around without sump plug...and lots of marine motors. How do you think they change oil on a boat? Nowadays the sump plug's only retained function is as a magnet.

You might have been using a dodgy setup. Plenty of them around, especially if you look only at cost and not whether the gear is useable.

I have been using the oil extractor on 2 cars over the last 7 years, on 1.9TDI every single change gets 4.5l+ oil out of sump. on 2.5 V6 TDI it is closer to 5l.