I could not believe what I found when I removed the Magnetic Sump Plug on my car.

Thank god this wasnt my Scooby, it was on our run around Diesel Ford Focus.

I got a Magnetic Sump Plug off eBay and installed it 6 months ago when doing an oil change.

But it begs some questions:

How long has it been rattling around the sump? The car is 9 years old.

How has it not ruined the engine?

How on earth did it get in there?!

Im not winding you up, I genuinely found this about 2 hours ago stuck to the end of the sump plug along with quite a few metal particles. If you ever need a reason to buy a Magetic Sump Plug, this is one of the them!

These little gadgets have shot up to the number 1 spot on my 'first mods to do' on any car I ever buy again.

Anyone lost a nut...?

 

OMG.

 

as its heavy it will have just sat in the sump,
best question is where did it come from ?

 

That is crazy !!!

Got one in my Impreza.

 

That looks like a conrod big end nut mate,I would be getting the sump off to check them

 

Hadn't thought of that, but dont conrods have bolts that secure the two big end halves together, not nuts?

 

Some have bolts and some have an inserted thread in the conrod itself and then the cap is held on with nuts

 

surely he would have found out by now if it was a big end nut, could have been some one messing around up top changing rocker gasket or something and where did that nut go............................ never mind must have fell on the floor

 

Ryan could be on the money there! Its obviously from your engine...

 

the oil pick up tube has a gauze on it and then it would have to go through the oil filter.

 

in this case it has not saved your engine. the gauze and filter have/would.
the gearbox has a mag plug but thats only cos the gearbox has no filter, that is when they have value.
agree with the above, if the car has value then it might be worth dropping the oil and sump and havign a check. otherwise id say its prob been there from day one or has dropped down the oil fill hole somehow.

 

Looks like a rod nut to me too, Thinking about it logically where else could it have come from, There is no room for a nut to get to the sump from elsewhere, is there?

Its a diesel so probablly sounds like its knocking anyway, lol,

 

As other have said, whip the sump off and check all the con-rod nuts are where they should be.

I also have a magnetic sump plug, bit of a no brainer for how little they cost.

 

You need to show that shot to a Ford mechanic or parts manager to establish where it might have come from. Could have been there since the engine was built! On it's own, laying in the sump, it would have nowhere to go, so in itself it's done no harm.


JohnD

 

No point showing a parts manager as they ain't seen anything but bottom line budgets and power point presentations for the last few years

I'm sure the focus uses conrod bolts as the rods are water jet cut from factory and you crack them to separate when new,

Ps: I am a ford parts "technician" (parts advisor to normal people )

Might be big end cap but I never sell rods for ford engines as short engines assembled are around 1300 quid with warranty but I'll be nosey Monday

 

+1 for con rod bolt and i also have magnetic sump plug on my scoob well worth the fiver i paid for it!

 

Nope, not from the con rods, just checked the EPC, they have bolts:

 

i thought the oe sump plug was magnetic anyway?

 

Nope.

Gearbox one is but not the sump plug.

 

Got a feeling that if you found that in a Scooby sump the big end would have knocked itself to death within a minute!

JohnD

 

Just do what some ignorant idiots do, and use a cut down sparkplug!

 

now theres a plan!

 

Magnetic Sump Plugs are for those who are scared to go into the woods alone ..... it helps them sleep at night, in all honesty - and for that they are worth the money.

But, they do nothing!! Really, they do nowt at all ..... that's the job of the filter!

 

Did you not see the picture in the opening post ?
That's been rattling around this chaps engine for quite some time, all the oil and filter changes in the world wouldn't of found that. THE ONLY reason the OP came across it is because of the magnetic sump plug. How can that be a bad thing Pete ?

 

I saw the picture ..... a nut is on the sump plug.

SO?

The nut wasn't going anywhere, certainly not through the pick-up pipe mesh - and not past the oil filter ...... and, it's not about to jump up and mangle anything in the sump.

I would be taking the sump off to se where it came from rather than worrying about itself.

Way back in the 70's I dropped a 6" hexagon bar (which drove the distributor on a Granada 3.0GXL) into the sump .......... it would not do any harm left there.

 

As said the main issue with these sump plugs is where has the metal came from, same as a oil pressure gauge tbh, once you lost oil pressure the gauge has told you but how many times has your crank span whilst you worked out what has happened

The metal should be going in the filter but diffs and gear boxes don't require filters as a magnetic plug is find for diagnostic stuff like in aerospace ( lots of metal on plug means take it Part and rebuild I'm aerospace stuff) but its less crazy then repenting you sins to the lord and if you believe in a book with no author that has been rewritten then fill yer boots

Let's not discuss turbo pre filters either lol

 

thats the oil pickup tube nut if its a 10mm