01 Focus sump plug

kavanada

Hi all,

Thanks to various threads here about servicing your own car, I gave it a go today, namely, changing the oil.
I'm no mechanic but I'd know a spark plug from a starter motor.

Everything was going fine until it came to the sump plug. It's a 13mm hex and I just could not get it off. I tried a normal length spanner, a socket with a handle around 50cm long, a hammer on the spanner. Nothing made it budge.

I think I've now rounded it slightly.

I had to throw in the towel after 3 hours and book it in for an oil change tomorrow. I told the guy on the front desk the situation.

I don't want them to come out and say, 'yeah, we can't take it off. You need a new sump, etc' so my question is, could a reputable garage get the plug off no matter what? They'd have a good range of tools, etc? Even with a vice grip?
If they do get it off, how much would labour cost? I told them I'd have the new oil, of course, which they understood.

I was definitely pulling the right way too! It did catch me out once or twice lying on my back looking backwards but the majority of the turning was anti-clockwise.

Thanks for any help/info.

dh0011

Did you try a vice grips on it? You would need a new plug after but it might drag it off?

KwackerJack

Vice Grips or if your adventurous file it so the shape comes back and use a smaller socket.

If your really brave weld another nut to it and crank it off that way!! Watch for flammable fluids

Atlantic Dawn

Leverage is your friend, I'd try a breaker bar.

The Glass Key

Just did my wifes Focus and for the first time used a oil vac http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-Manual-Vacuum-Fluid-Extractor/dp/B000RA16CO .
Seemed to work fine, can't say for sure that I got all the oil out but what came out was what was supposed to be in the engine.

biko

Probably whoever did it last really screwed it in tight.
I use a hammer, which you tried.

If you can't get it off this time have a mech look at it and tell them to put a new plug and washer in and only use a spanner to tighten it, so you can get it off next time.

hellyeah

I know it sounds daft, but i have batteled with these before, just about to give up and i sprayed some wd40 on, i mean soaked it. Went for a coffee came back and it opened. Give it a go. it works.

kavanada

Hi,

Yeah, I tried the vice grips. That's what kind of rounded it.

Good idea about the file but sounds like a lot of work. i.e. fine tuning hassle.

I bought a new sump plug before I even started on it because I just thought while I'm down there I might as well put in a fresh plug to go with the oil and filter. That way I'll know how old it is in years to come.

So it sounds like the mechanic is just going to use a vice grips and hang out of it. I'm sure it will work. I just couldn't get my weight/force behind the tools I used while lying down on my back.

So, labour? €30? Or more? Seeing as I have the filter, plug, new oil?

Cheers for the McGyver ideas...

kavanada

I've heard of those oil vacs but I'm more of a traditionalist tbh. Dirty oil out the bottom. You'd never really get out the really dirty bits of oil with the vac, I believe. Maybe a use, once every 2 oil changes.

I'll ask the mechanic not to use an air gun on it. Just a spanner, hand tight. Cheers.

As for leverage, I bought a 50cm socket wrench half way through the job thinking it would be enough. Maybe it was just the lack of force I could apply to it lying down. That was my excuse to the wife anyhow.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Cheers.

Stella Virgo

if u have the room to swing it ....a small pipe/monkey wrench will grip it

aujopimur

Try heating it.

The Glass Key

aujopimur wrote: »

Try heating it.

My guess is the OP is lying on his back doing this so probably couldn't see if he's also heating wires or plastic pipes.

George Dalton

Those Ford sump plugs are very soft and the bolt head is quite shallow on them. So if you don't get a good quality socket on them nice and square they are very easy to round off. We keep new ones in stock for that very reason. Any decent garage will be able to get it off for you but if you want to do it yourself then a set of these lads will do the job for you:

http://www.irwin.com/tools/screw-bolt-extractors/5-pc-bolt-grip-base-set

kavanada

I thought of putting a heater under it for an hour, alright. But then I reckoned the plug would just expand too. Maybe not.

Have to say George, you know your stuff. Going by your previous posts here too. Very soft and shallow is how I'd describe it. Sounds like they'll get it off eventually. That's the main thing.

All this for a little 1" bolt!

kavanada

Oil changed.

The guy said it was tight but not overly tight. He actually said, without prompt, it needed a good tight socket bit as mentioned here.

The labour cost €37.

I'll definitely try again next year. It hasn't put me off. Thanks anyway for all the ideas.

biko

It's so much easier when car is up on a lift
Did they put a better plug in?

kavanada

Yeah I knew that would be all it would take to get it off. Stand underneath and get good leverage with a breaker bar or something.

I bought a sump plug from a local Ford garage. €11. Probably a bit on the high side? They fitted it for me. It was just labour I was charged earlier today.

I'll do spark plugs next. I've put 18,000km on since I bought this car. I'd say it was a while before the previous owner sold it that they were changed.

I might be back with some more questions....

Cheers again.

The Glass Key

I'm assuming you changed the oil filter and had not trouble getting that off?

kavanada

Yeah, that was what annoyed me so much about the whole thing.

Jacking the car up safely so that it wouldn't fall on me and removing the filter were the two things I was dreading the most.

My garage floor is flat but there's a slope away from it so I just parked it facing out with the front wheels an inch from the lip. It created a natural working area under the bumper/engine.

I started on the filter first thinking it would cause more problems to get off but off it came.

I had to just bite the bullet eventually and put the new filter on (half-filled with new oil) with the old oil still inside the sump just to drive it to the garage. Quite disappointed it didn't go more smoothly.

I didn't ask the garage to put a new filter on today because surely it'd be fine? I'd be right in saying it's not going to fail in a week?

dgt

Next time use an impact socket

nct tester

dgt wrote: »

Next time use an impact socket

Couldn't put it better myself, Don't go near a sump plug without an impact (6 sided) socket. Had the exact same problem with a fiesta before, car left in for service with sump plug rounded (plus a new plug and new sump left on the passenger floor), managed to get it off with a hammer and chisel, wasn't ideal method but didn't crack the sump either luckily enough.

Interslice

dgt wrote: »

Next time use an impact socket

Why an impact socket? as opposed to a normal 6 sided one?

kavanada

I bought a 13mm socket with a 1/2" rachet head on a 50cm handle. That didn't work.

The socket bit had circular corners. I think that's what dgt recommended in his link above. I still think if I had the right leverage (i.e. standing under it) it would have come off.

kavanada

@ interslice:

The link above explains how the rounded-corner socket spreads the force on the 6 sides as opposed to just the corners on the flat sided hex sockets/spanner.

kavanada

Sorry interslice. There is no link. If you just google impact socket it'll explain all.

dgt

Interslice wrote: »

Why an impact socket? as opposed to a normal 6 sided one?

They are generally made far tougher and will less likely begin to shear the walls inside the socket. I have a set of normal 6 sided deep sockets and deep impacts, the 17mm on the normal set began to round. The impact 17 is still in the same shape as when we got it (and it gets some abuse here). I can get you pictures of both sockets if you wish just to show the difference in quality

If you can get the car high enough off he ground use a breaker bar on it. May only get a small turn but that's enough to make things much easier with a ratchet. My old Fiesta was the same, plug bonded into the sump, but I was lazy and used a beefy ratchet with brute force.....

Interslice

Ah I see. I've a few impacts here but couldn't see any difference in them, I don't think my sockets have had enough abuse yet:). Plan to start replacing the cheap stuff with better quality when I finish college. So far I've only had a one or two open ended spanners flare a bit and some allen and torx bits wearing too. Been all quiet on the DIY front for a while now thankfully. A few suspension jobs coming soon though I think.