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Sump bolt stripped. Damn, blast and bugga.

John L

Cruisin' Guzzisti
GT Famiglia
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
400
Location
South Australia
Changing the oil today and the thread stripped in the sump and I wasn't using any excess force. 50,000kms and I've changed the oil every 5,000 so it has been in and out around 10 times. So question is, has anyone removed the sump and can it be done with engine in situ (fingers crossed). Also is it just the 14 bolts around the edge and oil pipe at rear, or are there any hidden ones or tricks to getting it off. TIA, John.
 
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It looks like a lot of work to remove the oil sump.
The same thing happened to me in August. This happened to another here in the forum also....I got very lucky. The thread on the original plug is a 10 x 1.25 or 10 x 1.5 thread. It is quite coarse. I had a 10 x 1.0 bolt and cut it down and deburred it a tad longer than the original. I wrapped it with some teflon tape and with the bike raised up in the front ( to provide more access) CAREFULLY screwed it in straight and could feel the threads cross threading...btw; I used a copper washer from a brake line Banjo fitting as a seal. When I felt it snug up I stopped ! I then used a paint stick to mark its location. ...It's been over 3K miles with no problems...I believe it is going to hold up for the next oil change.
 
If you like working on the floor or up in air. Pan comes off w/14 and 4 around filter flange. If you want to remove filter flange it's 4 more to the block. So, it's still 18 bolts to remove pan.
 
If you like working on the floor or up in air. Pan comes off w/14 and 4 around filter flange. If you want to remove filter flange it's 4 more to the block. So, it's still 18 bolts to remove pan.


Can the pan be removed out of the frame?
It certainly doesn't look so.
 
If you like working on the floor or up in air. Pan comes off w/14 and 4 around filter flange. If you want to remove filter flange it's 4 more to the block. So, it's still 18 bolts to remove pan.

Don't like having to do It Steve, but don't really have any other choice. If it will come out through the frame I will attempt it, but if the engine has to be removed that's going to be beyond my capabilities.
 
Can the pan be removed out of the frame?
It certainly doesn't look so.

It looks tight sir fred, but it looks like it might just be possible, there is a bit of wiggle room.

Having a fresh look at it, it looks like it might be possible to take it out sideways between the crankcase and frame tube if I remove the exhaust on one side.
 
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It looks tight sir fred, but it looks like it might just be possible, there is a bit of wiggle room.

Having a fresh look at it, it looks like it might be possible to take it out sideways between the crankcase and frame tube if I remove the exhaust on one side.

Please keep me informed. My "fix" is intended as temporary. Mine stripped two days before I was to leave on a trip and luckily it worked.
 
Please keep me informed. My "fix" is intended as temporary. Mine stripped two days before I was to leave on a trip and luckily it worked.

Well sir fred, it seems there is no easy way. There are self tapping oversize drain plugs but I can't find a 10mm one, plus I'm a bit concerned it will leave aluminum cuttings in the sump. So I bit the bullet in the end and removed the sump, which means removing the lower frame rail assembly under the sump, which in turn means removing the the footrest hangers and exhaust system a true PIA. I left the 2 rear bolts in the rail assembly and used a car jack for support and a strap and roof beam to raise the front of the bike until there was room to slide it out. I'm looking at getting a Timesert insert put in, they seem to be a step up from the helicoil and there's no way I want to have to do this again. I left the left hand header attached because it was a good place to prop a length of timber against for extra support.
 

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Well sir fred, it seems there is no easy way. There are self tapping oversize drain plugs but I can't find a 10mm one, plus I'm a bit concerned it will leave aluminum cuttings in the sump. So I bit the bullet in the end and removed the sump, which means removing the lower frame rail assembly under the sump, which in turn means removing the the footrest hangers and exhaust system a true PIA. I left the 2 rear bolts in the rail assembly and used a car jack for support and a strap and roof beam to raise the front of the bike until there was room to slide it out. I'm looking at getting a Timesert insert put, in they seem to be a step up from the helicoil and there's no way I want to have to do this again. I left the left hand header attached because it was a good place to prop a length of timber against for extra support.

Thanks for the heads up, John.
A follow up would be greatly appreciated.
 
Sorry John, looks like a total pain in the ass to do. Of course the bright side is that you appear to have a proper place and the skills to do it. Good luck with it.
 
If this happen to me, good bye moto Guzzi for good.

A steel bolt that's frequently screwed in and out in an alloy thread is not a good idea but most manufacturers seem to do it not only Guzzi. Google sump plug repairs it is a common problem.
 
A steel bolt that's frequently screwed in and out in an alloy thread is not a good idea but most manufacturers seem to do it not only Guzzi. Google sump plug repairs it is a common problem.
I had many motorcycles in the last 43 years and this never happend to me so I keep my fingers crossed.
 
A steel bolt that's frequently screwed in and out in an alloy thread is not a good idea but most manufacturers seem to do it not only Guzzi. Google sump plug repairs it is a common problem.

Absolutely - take care with those spark plugs too - same potential problem, but with even more delicate threads
 
This happened to me many years ago on a different brand of bike. I just used the next size thread tap to enlarge and thread the hole. I rinsed out any shavings with fresh motor oil, and all was well. Quick and simple.

Access is the problem.
 
So I bit the bullet in the end and removed the sump, which means removing the lower frame rail assembly under the sump, which in turn means removing the the footrest hangers and exhaust system a true PIA. I left the 2 rear bolts in the rail assembly and used a car jack for support and a strap and roof beam to raise the front of the bike until there was room to slide it out.

John,

I see you removed the left-hand floorboard as well as the right hand one. I understand that you removed the right hand floor board (and exhaust, etc.) to provide a passage for the oil sump pan. Why did you remove the left hand floor board? Was this needed to access screws in the sump pan?
 
John,

I see you removed the left-hand floorboard as well as the right hand one. I understand that you removed the right hand floor board (and exhaust, etc.) to provide a passage for the oil sump pan. Why did you remove the left hand floor board? Was this needed to access screws in the sump pan?

Needed to move the left hand exhaust out of the way to get access to the 2 bolts on the rear left hand side of the frame rails. All the oil pan bolts can be accessed in situ with a long T bar allen key once the oil cooler is out of the way. I dropped the sump first hoping I could squeeze it out by just removing the RH exhaust but it's not possible.
 
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