Sump Gasket Gone!

[Patters]

Hi Folks,

 

Having this week off work I decided to find out which part of the car was dropping oil on my driveway.  On a closer inspection and taking the shield underneath the engine bay off, I discovered that the sump gasket was leaking oil out the one side!  What kind of repair bill can I be expecting?  Its just that I notice that there a huge cross member bar stopping you from dropping the sump!  Will the engine need lifting?

 

Thanks

 

Patters

 

By the way its a N/A engine.

[Guest Ash]

 

There is no "sump gasket" as such. Sounds like the whole thing needs a clean and some new sealant applied. If you drop the front subframe the sump can be got at easily.

 

Yours,

J

[Digsy]

Ash.

 

Is it a liquid "gasket"? Do you know if it is anaerobic or RTV?

 

If it is RTV there might be a simple (if slightly bodgy) way out.

 

If it isn't RTV then you can fast forward through the next bit.

 

RTV means room temperature vulcanizing - a posh way of saying it cures without the need for baking. Bathroom sealant is a type of RTV.

 

A properly designed RTV joint comprises of the sealant that fills up the microscopic gaps betwen the two mating surfaces, and a retained bead that usually sits either in a groove in one of the surfaces, or a chamfer on the inside or outside of the joint.

 

Sometimes, and only very rarely, an additional backup is required, for example: If the width of the mating surfaces is narrow, or you cannot package a bead chamfer (i.e. around a fastener hole), or if you are trying to seal a "T" joint, where three components are coming together in one place.

 

In these cases an additional bead of sealant can be squrted onto the outside of the joint. Yes, it sounds like a total cobble up, but I have recently had dealings with Threebond regarding the design of just this type of seal and this was one of their proposals (not one that was taken through to production I hasten to add).

 

If the leak is minor, and the site can be cleaned up *very* thoroughly, you *might* be able to get away with applying a sealant bead to the outside of the joint.

 

One final thing. For God's sake don't use a silicon-based sealant. Get some proper stuff from either Threebond or Loctite. If you can get in touch with them directly tell them the application and ask for something catalyst-freindly. It might be worth getting the proper surface cleaner / activator from them too.

 

I have their numbers at work. I'll dig them out tomorrow if you think its worth following up.

 

[Guest Ash]

 

 

The Toyota workshop manual specifies an RTV sealant. Yes, it sits in a "groove between the surfaces". The Toyota stuff is £30 (or thereabouts) for a small tube but they do list an alternative. Haven't got the number to hand but the alt. product is listed in the workshop manual.

 

Yours,

J

[Guest Martin F]

 

No alternative mentioned in the TRSM.

 

The Toyota part numebr is 08826-00080, i'm sure you can find a suitable alternative at a good motor factors.

 

[Patters]

Thanks for the advice, sounds easy enough to do it myself.  Some more pennies saved from Mr T!!