Ford Escort 1.8D sump plug

[stuartinlancashire]

I wonder if anyone can help. The oil on my 1.8D Escort Van (2001, Y Reg) looks a bit minging so I want to change it.

My problem is the sump plug won't unscrew, I know it has a 13mm head and I have tried using both a 12 point and 6 point 13mm socket with an extented wrench and also a 13mm spanner all to no avail. I have even tried tapping the spanner gently with a hammer but this was no help either and has slightly rounded the corners on the plug.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can remove the plug before I take a trip down to my local garage?

Thanks

 

[^neo^]

Pair of stillsons / mollgrips.
May well need a good clout to get it cracked off.

 

[stuartinlancashire]

Pair of stillsons / mollgrips.
May well need a good clout to get it cracked off.

Hi Neo

Thanks for your suggestion, I should have mentioned that I have tried mollgrips also, and I gave them a clout with with a lump hammer. Again they sliped even though the grips where on tight. I don't really want to keep using a hammer as I don't want to break off the head of the plug.

 

[^neo^]

Sounds like it's pretty stuffed then!
Clout with a hammer and chisel a few times on the lip of it then try again with the grips.

 

[keyplayer]

Impact driver/ easi outs would both possibly work. Buy a new plug before commencing though. Last resort, and be REALLY careful with this suggestion - application of a lit blowlamp, then repeat all previously suggested methods. Moral of the thread? Don't overtighten threaded stuff, sure sign of BIY. Perhaps introduce a small torque wrench to your toolbox, or cancel the gym membership? And don't forget anticlockwise!

 

[stuartinlancashire]

Thanks for that, I suspect an impact driver may have been used to put it in as I have never had this sort of problem with a sump plug in the past.

I hasten to add that I have only had the van a few months so any oil changes will have been done by the previous owner/s.

 

[darkarius]

Clout with a hammer and chisel a few times on the lip of it then try again with the grips.

Hammer and chisel is the way I've done it in the past. Other than that A guy i worked with had a box of socket type tools that you whacked on with a hammer and undid with a ratchet. (I forgotten the name of them). The insides of it cut into the head of the bolt until it undoes. Much like the special locking wheel nut sockets do. May do as well to have a word with your local tool supplier see what they've got

 

[jonnyfishing]

The way I have overcome this problem in the past is to weld a slightly larger nut to the bolt head(works everytime for me)then renew the sump bolt and washer.

 

[yes2mud]

I think the sockets referred to by darkarius for damaged nuts,are called "gator grip".I have never seen any for sale in auto stores,they seem to be mail order from the sort of catalogues you find inserted into magazines.
Although it may involve a garage visit,the weld a bigger nut on method is probably best.

 

[cabot]

You can source the sockets mentioned from machine mart.They are made by a company called Irwin.They cost about £20 for a set of five.Make sure you buy the correct size.An expansion pack of 5 is also for sale on the same website.Incidently have you considered using a syphon unit via the dipstick? put a syphon tube down the dipstick hole and remove the oil that way.Saves all the hassle of skint knees and getting oil up your arm and over the road when you find out that the basin you are draining into isnt big enough!

 

[JetTec]

A bit late in the day for this probably, but I've had the same problem on an Escort & a Fiesta diesel. I reckon its dissimilar metal corrosion between the sump plug/ washer/ and sump. The way I got them off was cut off part of the plug then chisel out the washer, very carefully, then the sump plug undoes quite easily. Takes a few hours but its cheaper than a garage bill.

 

[softlad1971]

If the sump plug has a plastic washer, then just melt it with a blow lamp. It will then undo very easily.

 

[suffolklad]

if the sump plug head is rounded get a file and sqaure it again and get stilsons with a long bar attached to them its leaverage you need not brute force