sump bolts

[russlea]

hi again,
ive got a problem with my cam cover and my sump. its a 1.4 bottom end, 1.3 head. ive replaced both with new cork gaskets and it seems its vibrating the bolts loose. i put spring washers on all of them but i still have 3 or 4 bolts on the sump leaking. the sump is an ally sump, would i need a special type of gasket? should i just put sealant on both with new gaskets?? cheers

[jimbob-mcgrew]

thread lock on the bolts might work

[craig green]

I'd suggest you paint on a thin layer of high temp gasket sealant to the faces, also something I've done in the past to bolts that rattle loose, is beat the ends with a cold chisel. This expands the end slightly which gives the threads some resistance when winding them in. Threadlock helps too.

[tom_beverley]

If its an ally sump then won't that be off a smallbock 16v?

Only reason I ask is those sumps have a compressible rubber gasket located in the recess running around their edge and don't use a cork gasket.

Instead just smear gasket sealer on the rubber seal and torque up the bolts after the cold chisel treatment ^ (works well) :)

[meritlover]

the OE gaskets have little inserts for each hole so the bolts can actually be tightened against something solid to give the bolt some stretch. the replacment gaskets have holes that are smaller and dont allow for these little metal polos and this means that the gasket keeps squishing up and failing to tighten the bolts. its a bit like trying to get a tight grip on a sandwich in the vice.
over time the cork will settle out and the bolts will come slack again. deforming the threads as mentioned sounds very clever, but this will give you a false reading on your torque wrench due to the increased friction in the bolt. this will give an incorrect stretch on the bolt and you wont know whether the gasket is properly tight or over crushed. unless you know what your doing of course!!. try giving all the bolts a nip then give it a nip in a few days, if its still going loose, use locktight or simelar.
i tend to smear sump gaskets on both sides with hylomar blue to stop the cork binding to the block and sump pan.
have fun.
meritlover

[craig green]

Metal POLO's. LOL