Procedures

Removing and refitting the sump

By Mark De Giorgio

Introduction

A known cause of failure of the 9000 4-cylinder engine is blockage of the oil pick-up strainer in the sump (oil pan). Here Mark describes the procedure for removing and replacing the sump and cleaning the oil strainer.

Procedure

  1. Drain the oil.

  2. Remove the upper engine mount as you have to jack the engine up quite a bit.

  3. Remove offside front wheel (timing chain side) and inner arch.

  4. Remove exhaust downpipe and centre rubber hangers. I removed the oil filter which allowed
    me to drop the exhaust more and cable tie out of the way of the sump.

  5. Undo all the sump bolts not forgetting the ones which are hidden by the clutch splash cover. You neem a 3/8 drive socket and extension here, also the larger bolt which connects the sump to the gearbox housing.

  6. Remove both hydraulic mounting centre bolts and oil level sender connector, also unclip the sender cable clip from the sump.

  7. Put a hydraulic jack with a piece of 3x1 wood packer under the crankshaft pulley and slowly jack the engine up. Keep a eye on any of the water flexible hoses or anything else that might become tight when the engine moves up. I lifted it up about 4" and didn't encounter anything catching etc.

  8. Using the cast in leverage points on the sump break the seal. If it doesn't come away easily double check all the bolts. Easy to miss one.

  9. In my case, struggle to get the sump out of the awkward space, but after lifting the engine up a bit more it slips out easily. Note, you don't need to remove the clutch splash guard.

  10. Wash your hands and have a cup of tea...I did this the other way round and the wife wasn't very happy with the state of the cup!

  11. Remove the inner sump cover and be amazed at how clean/dirty it is in the bottom. Remove the 2 6mm bolts which hold the filter in place and remove filter. Be amazed at how clean/dirty the wire mesh is.

  12. Clean the sump, suction filter and mating faces on the engine block and sump.

  13. Buy 2 new o rings to change the sump filter pipe seal and the mating face seal. Purely piece of mind here. Refit sump filter and inner sump cover.

  14. Buy a tube of Wynnes gasket maker, its a pressurised tube with a excellent control lever on it, as you need to put the sump back into place without gasket goo on. Doing it this way means you don't accidently scrape any sealant off the block mating surface when you juggle the sump back into position.

  15. Once the sump is located in place it will be supported about 2" from the block. I then moved it forward and using the gasket maker put the sealant onto the back face of the block sealing surface and as far down the sides as possible, making sure to circle the bolt holes, then I moved the sump backwards until it was back in its correct postion but still with the 2" gap and finished off applying the sealant to the front section of the block and down the sides until all the mating surface was covered.

  16. Carefully lift the sump up and locate by using a couple of bolts on either side. Slowly tighten these up ensuring the sump is going on square. You have about 15 minutes, IIRC, to get the rest of the bolts in before the sealant starts to go off. Put all the easy ones in first and tighten progressively down, this will take the pressure off struggling with the few hard to reach ones behind the drive shaft, clutch splash guard etc.

  17. Get torque wrench and tighten all to the correct torque, which I forgot, think its about 15lb.ft.
    Lower engine back onto the hydraulic mounts and refit the 2 centre bolts.
    Refit the top engine mount.

  18. Untie the exhaust and lift into place before you put a new oil filter on as it won't go past...3" JT won't, standard might.

  19. Fit new filter, refit sump plug, reconnect level sensor and reclip to sump.

  20. Have another cup of tea whilst the sealant goes off, then refill with good oil.

  21. Disconnect the DI rail connector and turn the engine over until the oil light goes out.

  22. Reconnect DI and start engine and check for leaks.

  23. No leaks, replace inner arch and wheel, if it leaks scream and shout....but in my case it worked perfectly.