P1B6929BW 3.4S auto

[abbirkin]

I've just had a good laugh Cass - your account on changing the oil was brilliant, I've done that cursing with oil going up my sleeve....

I feel for Paddy with his decision. I have been so lucky with my S type; as described on my post it was an abandoned car for 7-9 years but I did have the advantage of knowing the car before it was dumped in the garage next to where I stored my Frogeye Sprite which I had for 30+ years (I only sold it because I had to wear gloves, not to drive it but to put my hand on the pavement to crawl out in my old age!).

Body wise, I knew it had stood on a main road through the winter, and can clearly remember seeing it one year with with snow piled up from the snow plough and salty slush all splashed over the side and thinking this car is not going to last long. However, when I bought it some 9 years later I only had to replace the two outer sills to run it for a few years with very little rust emanating.

About 4 years ago I decided to tackle the bit of rust which was starting to show and a local garage welded in a rear door panel because of a 3 inch 'bleb', bang in the centre of the door caused by the felt under the bolt which supported the window frame. Must be a common rust stop I'm sure. I also had a rear panel under the bumper welded in.

Whilst he was spraying these parts I told them to do the other doors and before long I said you may as well do the whole car. I followed the progress and was reasonably happy what was going on in spite of archaic conditions and premises. I paid just £2000 for all this work, maybe why they went bankrupt about 90% of the way having to have it finished elsewhere. The pictures on my post show how it turned out so as I said earlier, I have been VERY lucky considering how the car was treated in its earlier life.

I wish Paddy all the best with project.

[paddyx350]

That made me laugh out loud too.. we've all got ourselves on the wrong side of similar situations.
Years ago I was replumbing my brothers girlfriends flat in Paris.
We found and closed the stop cock on the mains water supply into the apartment off the rising main so that we could connect in a new cold water supply that we'd run to the kitchen. Started to cut through the existing pipe to the apartment with a hacksaw. We expected a bit of water to drain from the pipe when we cut through it as there would still be a bit of water in the pipework downstream of the stopccok..
Only problem was we were cutting the pipe on the WRONG side of the stopcock.
When water started to come out of the cut at HIGH PRESSURE Ding, the penny dropped... but too late.
Sore hands, flood and lots of swearing and embarrassment. We had to get the apartment building supervisor to shut down the supply to the building and pay for an emergency French plumber to repair...Stupid English..
In our defence the pipework was laid out very strangely It could have happened to anybody!

[Glyn Ruck]

Don't talk to me about oversized sump plugs.
This is a copy of a post I put on the archive forum in 2015.

I had been suffering from a little oil leak around my sump plug. Tiny drip but persistent enough to lubricate the bell housing and gearbox. So I ordered a new sump plug part number C23435MAG. This is the sump plug with the little magnet in the head to extract any ferrous metal and it came with a new copper washer.
Today was dry so I decided to fit it on my driveway. Jacked up the front right hand side and inserted my trusty wooden block for safety. Removed the front wheel for better access.
I had decided on a quick change, old one out, new one in without having to drain all the oil from the sump. Climbed under the car with a small receptacle to catch the small amount of oil I knew I would release and undid the old plug far enough so I could remove it with my fingers. Right old one out, small amount of oil drained, finger over hole no more oil. New plug ready, removed finger, inserted plug only to find it was the wrong bl**dy size. Oil now gushing out from the sump plug and the receptacle was filling fast.
Don't panic I cried whilst the oil ran down the insides of my sleeves and up my arms as I desperately tried to extract the oh too small sump plug from the geezer that was gushing half of the Gulf of Mexico over my drive. OK got the new plug back out and put my finger in the hole before someone could call Red Adair to help.
Looking like some large Dutch child I am now lying on my back with my finger in the hole whilst an environmental disaster is flowing down my driveway towards the drain when I realize I have no idea where the old plug is.............
I manage to swivel around and look on the floor around me but can't see it. Bu**er. With the index finger of my right hand in the hole I plunge my left hand in to the oil filled receptacle. No time or ability to pull up my sleeve so that goes in as well and at the bottom I find the plug but have to spend another couple of minutes searching for the old copper washer. Eventually both were retrieved and the plug hole was sealed.
It seems at some point in past someone had over tightened the sump plug and stripped the thread in the alloy sump. The repair was to drill out the hole and re tap it in a larger diameter. Part number C23435MAG no longer fits.
Moral to the story is that taking short cuts is not the best course of action sometimes.
Anyone want an oily but brand new magnetic sump plug with new copper washer part number C23435MAG?

Excuse my mirth Rob. We've all done similar things. I once forgot to replace the sump plug in one of my Alfa's & poured 10 litres of fresh oil onto my Dad's driveway.

The XK's Unltd. item is brass, looks original but requires you to cut a larger thread.

[cass3958]

My neighbours daughter topped up her cars oil level by pouring oil in to the top of the cam cover until she could see the oil level. Did not know what a dipstick was until her father called her one. I now know that a Ford Fiesta 1.4 takes about 15 litres of oil before you can see the oil level in the cam cover. Lucky for her, father checked the level before she tried to start the engine.