Noop was looking at the weather forecast, and then the yellow warning of disruption from rain and decided I should fit his winter tyres. The tread pattern of the Michelins is very aggressive and they seem to work well at clearing standing water, By the time the rain storm is over it is going to be getting cold enough to justify the swap anyway.

Herts Hillhopper said:

Are you in Norfolk? Although I live in Hertfordshire we own a holiday let at Brancaster Staithe, North Norfolk. Best part of three inches of rain fell there between Thursday night and Saturday night - and horrendous winds too. This saw me drive my 4x4 from Kings Lynn to Brancaster with a 6x5 foot fence panel on the roof to mend the fence at the cottage.

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91.3mm for the week here in mid Norfolk, and all gone without a trace.
Last year the biggest deluge was 90mm in about two hours but it had already been wet for a few weeks. The roar a
of water running into a pond across the fields from me could be heard a quarter of a mile away and that went up 5m in 24 hours. As we are on a band of sand mostly it drains away quite quickly.

You're lucky to be on sand. We're on heavy clay, and the fields hereabouts are waterlogged. It will take several days of dry weather for the standing water to find its way into the watercourses, but the forecast isn't auspicious. I picked the wrong time to be having a sewage treatment plant installed. At this rate, the bl**dy thing will just float out of the hole!

Hit a rain-filled, deep pothole with my front offside wheel yesterday, while barrelling down an unfamiliar farm track. Helluva bang and jarring thud. Hope I've not done any damage. Nothing visible on a quick inspection, and no vibration or clonking detected so far, but I'm not sure Pandas are designed to take that kind of impact.

gar074 said:

Hit a rain-filled, deep pothole with my front offside wheel yesterday, while barrelling down an unfamiliar farm track. Helluva bang and jarring thud. Hope I've not done any damage. Nothing visible on a quick inspection, and no vibration or clonking detected so far, but I'm not sure Pandas are designed to take that kind of impact.

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I'm sorry to hear that Gar. I've driven on better roads in third world countries!

The exact same thing happened to me about a year ago but I had the Suzi Jimny then and it didn't bat an eyelid. Not so sure about the Panda though.

I'd carry out a thoroughly good inspection of the wheel(s) and tyre(s) that struck the hole, and even if there's no visible damage, I'd certainly get the tracking checked/adjusted.
Look particularly for any slight bulges in the tyre - sidewalls or on the crown, that will be a sign of impact damage and the damage will mostly be internal on the tyre carcass

KPat said:

It is badly mangled. I think it is made of quite soft mild steel which is why it chewed up so easily. I will try to get a picture today.

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Sorry for the delay. Here is the drain plug. No hexagon left on it.

My first "go to" on that would be a good quality pipe wrench: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_wrench. Sorry if I'm telling you how to "suck eggs" KPat and for the benefit of others, if you are going to buy a pipe wrench then spend your money on a good quality product - Rigid, Stilson, Facom, etc - I find the jaws on cheap ones really let them down, either not hardened enough so they don't grip properly or over hard and brittle. Once you've used a quality one you'll be convinced.

A little heat round the ally casing and a nice big wrench should have it out I think. A good quality wrench will have nice flat sides to the teeth and I've had success with this sort of thing gripping it on the large diameter rather then on the rounded off hex. Anyway, whatever you try I wish you the best of good luck.

Ps to the above. I just magnified the picture of the plug and can see that the top half diameter is recessed into the casting slightly so you won't be able to get a wrench on the larger diameter. Sorry for my unobservant stupidity! A good Stilson - or similar - applied to the rounded hex would still be my first stop and then, if that didn't work, I'd use a chizel to raise an "edge" on the large diameter and then a flat ended punch to try to knock it round. Some heat on the ally case in both instances would probably be beneficial.

KPat said:

Sorry for the delay. Here is the drain plug. No hexagon left on it.

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Had a similar challenge with my 1st jtd

99 marea weekend .. nice car that I just didnt 'gel with'

It was ex.company 75k FFSH

And the drain plug was Mullered (FFS..)

I was young and adventurous back then

It was a socket type plug.. with what was now a 12mm cylindrical bore


So..

Out with the angle grinder


Lop of 2x edges of it flange..
to make a 27'ish mm A/F Head

A bit of 'tickling' to get them parallel

On with a BIG good quality adjustable

Wriggle and 'turn the worm' to get the jaws in full contact

A reasonable swing..and it crept out

The plug I had bought from Peugeot didnt fit (funny that..)

So the modified one went back in for a few weeks.. while I got FIAT on the case and could rack up enough miles to justify another oil change

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Ps to the above. I just magnified the picture of the plug and can see that the top half diameter is recessed into the casting slightly so you won't be able to get a wrench on the larger diameter. Sorry for my unobservant stupidity! A good Stilson - or similar - applied to the rounded hex would still be my first stop and then, if that didn't work, I'd use a chizel to raise an "edge" on the large diameter and then a flat ended punch to try to knock it round. Some heat on the ally case in both instances would probably be beneficial.

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The problem with many 'pipe grips'
Is they often have a jaw wider than the other..

REALLY frustrating when you are trying to grab the 'remnants' of somebody's previous attempts

varesecrazy said:

The problem with many 'pipe grips'
Is they often have a jaw wider than the other..

REALLY frustrating when you are trying to grab the 'remnants' of somebody's previous attempts

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Totally agree Charlie. Sometimes the narrower "Footprint" type work better in these situations and sometimes you just have to get "belligerent" with hammer, chisel and/or punch. This one is nicely exposed so, if it's not being inclined to move, it would be a good candidate for welding a nut too - don't you think? The heat would probably help too.

Yes Jock

I am guessing its now 10 or 11mm in diameter.. so too small for any leverage 'as.is'

An M12 nut should push on.. leaving a 19mm hex for a good single hex socket once the welding has happened
( or half.wind a M10 for a 17hex)

Watch out for electrical disconnection (isolation) if using big Amps

Dont want to fry electronics

Ah yes, Bl***y electronics! Still, if you fry them then a seized sump plug will be pretty inconsequential? Ha ha.

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Ps to the above. I just magnified the picture of the plug and can see that the top half diameter is recessed into the casting slightly so you won't be able to get a wrench on the larger diameter. Sorry for my unobservant stupidity! A good Stilson - or similar - applied to the rounded hex would still be my first stop and then, if that didn't work, I'd use a chizel to raise an "edge" on the large diameter and then a flat ended punch to try to knock it round. Some heat on the ally case in both instances would probably be beneficial.

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Thanks Jock.Yes the top half is recessed. The hexagon has already been chewed by pipe grips, Stilson wrench and Irwin sockets . So next step is some gentle heat and a small chisel on the outer diameter.

varesecrazy said:

The plug I had bought from Peugeot didnt fit (funny that..)

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Heheh - that maked I laarf

For some reason, until your photo appeared I had the impression this was a different type of plug - and we discussed Dormer Easy-out tools momentarily.

For that kind of problem I have successfully used Irwin Bolt-Grips. Be warned though, if you hammer cheap variants on too hard, they can split. (I'd be a bit cautious about hammering around a cast sump anyway - I cracked a very expensive vintage car sump once - but it was 80 years old!) Though you mention these bolt-grips have already been tried - hmmmm...that therefore, doesn't leave too many options and I think we're back to penetrating oil and a good amount of heat

Not sure the price of the bolt grips against a good Stilson wrench though.

EDIT: Could it have been put in cross-threaded? Does it look like its in square or not? If so there may be very little chance of it coming out without chewing the threads up on the sump itself


.

KPat said:

Thanks Jock.Yes the top half is recessed. The hexagon has already been chewed by pipe grips, Stilson wrench and Irwin sockets . So next step is some gentle heat and a small chisel on the outer diameter.

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Fingers toes and all other mobile appendages crossed for you. Good luck!

Yup, gave me a bit of a chuckle too Max. Although maybe not all that far fetched as quite a number manufacturers use similar sump plugs these days. metric 14 and 15 being common, so I suppose there was always a chance?

I've looked at those reverse thread sockets a few times (they're like female versions of an easy out but I don't think Dormer make a version do they?) However as I've always managed with the tools I already have I've so far resisted the temptation - I do love tools though!

Although KPat mentions that the plug is on a Ford about two pages back, I had started thinking, like you I suspect Max, that it was a female hex - like on our wee Fiats, Until, that is, I saw the picture.

Cross threading or a "pulled" thread due to overtightening is, I would guess, a possibility and I've seen the plug repair kits used very successfully - that is the type where the hole is drilled out slightly larger, rethreaded to the next larger size and an oversize plug installed. For example a 15mm plug being substituted for a 14mm original. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sump-Plug-Thread-Repair-Re-taps/dp/B01N7L3K19

Whilst on this subject I can also thoroughly recommend this type of thread repair kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-Piece...X-1-25-mm-with-Alignment-Guides-/141430849864 I suffered a damaged thread on the N/S bottom caliper pin on the Ibiza last year - probably my fault I'm ashamed to say - and one of the local wee workshops I'm friendly with has one of these kits which he used to repair the damage. It was so easy to use that if I ever run into this problem again I'll just buy a kit for myself.

Took the Wee Yellow Beastie for her MOT test (nearly 6 months late, courtesy of the COVID extension).

She maintained her 100% record of passing first time, which is pretty amazing IMHO, considering (a) she's now 5.5 years old, and has done over 54k miles, (b) she gets minimal amounts of tlc, (c) rear pads apart, she's still on her original running-gear, and (d) she spends much of her life pounding up & down our half-mile farm track, which is rutted, pot-holed, and often very muddy.

The only recorded minor defect was for windscreen damage (a 4cm crack which, quite frankly, I was expecting her to fail on), and there were advisories ("monitor and repair if necessary") for worn front pads and worn, pitted or scored brake discs (not surprising, as they are the originals), and a slightly worn NSF inner suspension bush.

Can't complain about that! i might even show my gratitude by giving her a quick rub down with an oily rag.

Today I mostly fitted a suitable Panda passenger

I saw my wife pull onto the drive and noticed her look of astonishment as she spotted it in the car

I'm thinking of getting another one to put on the rear centre headrest looking out of the back window...

Today I drove the twinair panda 100 feet
It went without issue (it was all downhill..)

This evening it will do 100 miles..
Must remember to reset MPG..
Its 1st trip since August