Anyone had problems with their sump?

[JulieD]

The Fabia (vRS) has just been in for service and needed a new sump because the threads had stripped out of the old one. The car is just over 6 years old and only ever been serviced by Skoda main dealers. It's had 7 services. The garage have told me this is relatively common because it's an aluminium sump with a steel sump plug, and that the steel plug weakens the alloy and causes the threads to come out the sump when the plug is removed. My old Fabia (1.9TDI) had got up to 130k with no issues with the sump. I always thought that the sump should last the lifetime of the car, unless you bashed it off a rock or pothole!

Have any of you had the same problem?

[Holmesie]

as the threads are constantly covered in oil i cant see electrolysis being much of an issue although i can see the potential problem of an apprentice over tightening the sump plug stripping the threads and the garage trying to dodge the cost of putting it right.

judging by your name JulieD it wouldnt suprise me that the garage is trying to fob you off ..... we have had it recently with my mothers car .... Not nice to think but im sure some (not all) garages try to take advantage of a female motorist.

Edited 24 March, 2013 by Holmesie

[Avalon]

In general sump life depends on the conditions it's exposed to. If you use an island causeway twice a day your salt exposure is quite a bit different to someone who doesn't. Also agree with Holmesie though, it's possible that the new garage has been heavy handed and now you're paying for it unfortunately.

[hutchysrs50]

If its common, they must be doing somthing wrong, every time!

In all honesty, it can happen to pretty much any car, its not somthing that can be put in loose so most people panic a little bit and tighten them up really tight, when in reality it just needs a good nip up as a copper washer makes a decent enough seal or in fords case a rubber washer built into the sump plug.

We have an engineer that rethreads all of our damaged threads and he gets LOADS! of work from the Audi dealer for sump plugs and alot of work from Ford for the caliper carrier housings stripping.

in summary... its not common, the garage has probly damaged it (or a previous one), a simple fix is getting it rethreaded (heli-coiled) or getting a new sump... It Happens.

Good Luck.

[JulieD]

The garage is the same one that supplied the car four years ago and have serviced it ever since. They tried to repair the thread but it still leaked so a new sump has been fitted, at a supplied and fitted cost of £200. `We've had plenty of cars with aluminium sumps in the past that have covered much higher mileages and been older and none of these have ever had a problem. The garage are usually very good but I can't help but think I've ended up paying for either bad workmanship by them or poor design by Skoda. I'm not very happy either way!

[Guest BigJase88]

Thats the garage's fault! They have over tightened the sump plug in the past and stripped the threads!

Probably one of skoda's favourite 17 year old 'technicians' did it!

I wouldnt have paid a penny!!!!!!!

Looks like you've been made a mug of

[johnmb]

i had the same with my octy 1 , back in 2007 it only had about 60k on it but was out of warrant , had always been serviced by main dealers , i contested the cost and replacement as my expenses and that the dealers were responsible , refused to pay and told them they had to do it at there expenses , took some hard talk , but got them to accept the responsibility in the end and replaced with new sump .

[JulieD]

I'll be contacting Skoda Customer Services regarding this on Monday, but just wanted your opinions before I did. Not paying a penny for the service and repair could well of ended up unpleasant, and they still had the keys at that point in time! I just wanted my car back. Any arguing over who or what is to blame can now take place with the car back safely with me.

Looks like I'm not the first to have this problem - clicky

[Holmesie]

im not sure you will get anywhere with contacting skoda as you have already taken the car..... Usually ( or in my experience) before you are allowed to take the car / given the keys they make you sign a form saying work has been carried out to a satisfactory standard and as the car is out of warranty i would imagine this would go against you too but......

its defiantly worth a try and good luck

[Avalon]

If you paid by card and they fob you off remember you have options, the card company have joint liability so when you dispute the payment and point out it was made under duress as you needed your car they take it up with the garage as they want it sorting out ASAP.

[JulieD]

If you paid by card and they fob you off remember you have options, the card company have joint liability so when you dispute the payment and point out it was made under duress as you needed your car they take it up with the garage as they want it sorting out ASAP.

Hopefully it won't come to that, but we did pay by card so thanks for the tip.

[Avalon]

Notify the card company anyway, explain you are happy to deal with the retailer at this stage to resolve the issue but at least you've got it logged that the payment was made under duress and you don't believe the work was carried out to the expected standard.

[hutchysrs50]

For £200 they're not exactly doing it cheap either! I haven't priced up a sump from any of my part suppliers but a quick look on eBay... They seem to be between £25 and £35 for the correct sump, and an extra £10 for the gasket as well.

That's max £45 for parts so £155 for labour!

[rum4mo]

Well, for what it is worth, I think that you will find that Ford will charge "a serious price" for their old "tin" sumps and cam covers - I had to buy a new sump for an 1.1 Fiesta when it was 4 years old - rusted through!

I've had a Fiesta 1.6 with an alloy sump for 8 years with no issues, a GSI CAV for 9 years with an alloy sump, still have a Passat 2.8 with an alloy sump for almost 13 years and still have a Polo 1.4 with an alloy sump for almost 11 years - always serviced by me from new, and so far no stripped threads.

Though I have always taken time to tidy up the threads on new VAG sump plugs as they do tend to get damaged in storage/transit - so maybe that is where the problems lie as a damaged thread will always rip of bits of alloy when fitted.

[seanw]

For £200 they're not exactly doing it cheap either! I haven't priced up a sump from any of my part suppliers but a quick look on eBay... They seem to be between £25 and £35 for the correct sump, and an extra £10 for the gasket as well.

That's max £45 for parts so £155 for labour!

The cheap sumps on ebay are cheap for a reason! Skoda would supply an oe one which are a lot stronger than the cheap ones. Also no gasket needed for the sump. They use a special sealer on them.

200 is robbery when they most likely damaged the threads themselves though

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Tapatalk 2

[hutchysrs50]

The sealer is aka "instant gasket" I've purchased it before when doing timing chains on the 1.2.

[RAPTURE]

They have probably included the price of new oil?

[Chorlton]

The same thing happened to mine about 3 years and 45000 miles ago. I now change the oil via suction pump through the dipstick, which is much more convenient.

[JulieD]

An update for you all. The Aftersales Manager at the dealer assured us that they always use a calibrated torque wrench for sump plugs and said he would support us with trying to claim from Skoda Customer Services. We wrote to Skoda Customer Services and after a chat with one of their people they have considered the case and agreed to make a refund for the sump replacement, sharing the cost with the dealer. Happy days, and many thanks to Skoda and the dealer for getting this sorted - I think it shows the value of maintaining a full dealer service history and a good relationship with the dealer.

[Avalon]

The same thing happened to mine about 3 years and 45000 miles ago. I now change the oil via suction pump through the dipstick, which is much more convenient.

Having owned a car with no sump plug and being ruthless with oil changes from new trust me this is not going to do you any favors long term. When I dropped the sump to replace it (corrosion and a weeping gasket) it was covered in sludge.

[OldJackyBoy]

Hutchy where abouts in the north east are you, regarding the engineer you know that does the re-threading as my sump is in the same situation at the poster off this topic, and at £170 for a new sump at the dealer am trying to look at cheaper alternative thanks

[Corni]

I've had this kind of solution for a few oil changes now and I see it's worth the money. No problems with the threads after this.

http://www.quickvalve.co.uk/

[OldJackyBoy]

Yeah that looks a good solution once I sort the re-threading out or new sump thanks corni

[hutchysrs50]

Newcastle mate. Pm me if you need anything.