Sealing 200Tdi Sump

Resurgam · Sep 25, 2023

The Defender 200Tdi I'm rebuilding (very slowly) has been leaking oil over the garage floor despite not having even been run yet. I've tracked down the oil leak to the sump, which I took off and reassembled some time ago, and clearly made a pig's ear of it.

I can see that the official guidance is to use insanely expensive sealant https://www.paddockspares.com/stc611-sealant.html but is that any better than just using RTV? I've also spotted some cork gaskets on eBay. Has anyone got any experience of using these?

Thanks

miktdish · Sep 25, 2023

I used a cork gasket with a smear of RTV on my 300tdi without problems.
The bolts aren't that tight (10NM) which is only a tad over hand tight.
Its worth checking the holes are clear when reassembling. I had a couple with some crap in and they tightened/felt right but didn't clamp the sump.

dag019 · Sep 25, 2023

I used a large amount of high temperature stove sealant on mine no leaks so far 10k later.

Just looked it up it was Vitcas (link).

lynall · Sep 25, 2023

Do not forget the extension ladder as well as the sump, any quality silicone meant for the job will work, not some generic 3 quid a tube stuff!

Resurgam · Sep 26, 2023

Thanks all. I'll try again and see how we go!

boguing · Sep 27, 2023

If it's leaking and hasn't been run I can't see how it can be coming from the sump gasket - the oil shouldn't be up that high?

Resurgam · Sep 28, 2023

boguing said:
If it's leaking and hasn't been run I can't see how it can be coming from the sump gasket - the oil shouldn't be up that high?

I'd thought that too, but there's definitely oil coming out between the sump and the rear edge of the ladder frame where it drops down. I've marked where the oil is coming out on a photo of a ladder frame (not mine!). Maybe the oil just tracked along the face of the ladder frame when it was filled.

boguing · Sep 29, 2023

Resurgam said:
I'd thought that too, but there's definitely oil coming out between the sump and the rear edge of the ladder frame where it drops down. I've marked where the oil is coming out on a photo of a ladder frame (not mine!). Maybe the oil just tracked along the face of the ladder frame when it was filled.

I suppose it might have, but I'd clean it up and have another think. You'd have had to make a pretty big mistake for that to be possible. @miktdish's suggestion of dirty screw holes could do it though.

Resurgam · Oct 7, 2023

I've discovered what the problem was. There were actually three bolt lengths instead of two. Two of the short bolts were about 5mm longer and this was enough to bottom out in the holes they'd been put in. Given that I was really careful putting the bolts back in their original positions first time around, that's presumably where the original oil leak was coming from as well.

Anyway, I've gone for a gasket this time so we'll see how well that works. @miktdish mentioned tightening to 10Nm but the Haynes manual says 25 for 200Tdi or 18 for 2.5TD. I've gone with 15 for now as I don't want to distort the gasket. Any thoughts?

Sealing 200Tdi Sump

Resurgam

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miktdish

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dag019

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lynall

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Resurgam

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boguing

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