Hi everyone. Trying to do oil change on my 2005 TD4. Under tray has two bolts at back which came off fine. Tray dropped down lovely. Then found 4 fittings (2 each side of tray) towards front of engine. Closer inspection do not look like screws as have no x head or hex in the them not really sure what they are. There are 4 Philips screws which I undid but these appear to hold the front lower valance in place. My question is what are these 4 fittings and do they need to come out ( if so how?) to allow access to sump plug under the tray. Thanks.
Post a picture of the fixings you have.
The sump guard has several different fixings, which are as follows.
At the front, the bumper is screwed to the aluminium cross vehicle section by 4 No2 pozidrive machine screws, with large washers. These often corrode in situ, due the the catalytic action of the dissimilar metals.
This can be prevented by applying grease to the threads when the screws are fitted.
Either side of the 4 bumper screws are larger 13mm headed bolts, which secure the longitudinal rails to the front crossmember/radiator support. You have to pull the pumper plastic forwards a bit, so you can access these bolts. These can also seize solid, and often break off, as they can rust inside the closed box section. Plenty of grease on reassembly will prevent this issue.
Rearward of the front bolts are 2 13mm headed bolts which are next to the lower suspension arm brackets. These bolts don't often seize in, but grease on assembly is prudent.
Lastly there are rear mounting bolts, which simply keep the plastic splash guard from flapping about. These are 10mm headed bolts, and again can seize into position, so again grease on reassembly.
There are loads of pop rivets securing the plastic sections to the aluminium sections. These mustn't be removed, as they aren't going to help access the sump plug.
