Oil Sump problem

It should be 22mm

Thanks Charles! I suspect someone has bodged a smaller hole in there somehow.

Are sumps particularly hard to get hold of? I had a quick look in the usual places and hadn't seen anything.

It's obviously been welded up. The bolt is probably fine if it's magnetised. What size spanner does it take?

I have a good sump if you need one Grant

17mm it seems?

Ok, so the drain hole is around 10 mm diameter, so it should be ok to drain, if a little slow. Not worth the effort and expense of a sump change unless you really want to!

The quality of the material used on the later sumps doesn't appear to be as good as the earlier cars.
I stripped the thread on mine a few years ago and decided to replace the sump with one off an earlier car.

If you can get away without replacing the sump then that would be best.

It's not a pleasant job and I had a pit in my garage at the time!
You need to remove the centre strut and engine mount to get at the row of 4 or 5 bolts hidden by it.
The engine/gearbox needs to be supported while this is off.

Refitting with a new gasket was a complete pig while working underneath the car! The gasket is quite thin and prone to moving while lining everything up.

So in summary, if you can get away with it I would leave as is.

Andy

Thanks everyone, and thanks Charles I'll see how I get on with the bolt and then be in touch if I look at replacing the sump. Doesn't sound like the more fun of jobs!