Machinery Student Cock Up!

[kiwi pom]

Plenty of sump threads get stripped, especially on the lighter stuff like quads. Its hardly unique to students.
If the OP doesn't know how to fix the problem it might be better handled by a mechanic before it leads to a new sump or a new engine if the repair fails and the oil jumps out.

 

[flywheel]

Learned many many years ago. Tighten by fingers not by spanner or socket, so if you do cross thread you won't get far....

 

[Cowabunga]

Ah, you had a father like mine then! I'm afraid I've given up doing oil changes. It's too difficult for me to get up off the ground after removing the plug. Now I take the atvs to my local bike specialist and just pay out and feel happy that I'm not doing it.

https://www.gwionprys.co.uk

The quad is a piece of cake. Only done this one once since the free first service but I drive it on a pallet, lift the pallet onto a stack of other pallets and do it at a comfortable height. The Honda 420 needs the red plastic panels removed all down the sides, which is a bit of a faff, but not too bad. The filter is not a screw-on but is located behind a metal panel in the engine block.

You never cross thread a bolt? #Aroganttwat

Not a sump plug or anything with a good thread. Never. Always tighten by hand first. Nor have I overtightened and stripped a thread in an alloy part. That’s not arrogance, it’s a fact and one that you evidently should learn from yourself you careless and patently #cluelessnumpty.

 

[ollie989898]

There are some "unseen" skills in doing just an oil change that take it from just about managing it, to doing it properly proper.

- warming the engine enough to thin the oil but not so much there's a risk of burns.
- positioning the wheels correctly so you can access areas you need to before loosing out the oil
- Slackening the filler cap before removing the sump bung so it doesnt air lock
- removing the filter such it doesnt cascade oil everywhere
- lubing the new filter seal and if vertical, filling the new filter with oil before putting it on hand tight.
- new sealing washer on sump bung and torquing it up to spec, opposed to "possibly tight enough" (i.e strips the thread or comes loose in service.)
- rags etc around the filler hole so not to pour new oil everywhere.
- appreciating the right amount of time to allow the level to settle to bring it up to correct on the dipstick depending on where the filler is (rocker cover or direct to sump)

no doubt afew other things too, but you get the idea. Eg forgetting to tighten the plug so it falls out or grossly overfilling the sump can rapidly kill the engine in work, it needs to be done right.
-

It's like anything, more to it than one realises until you have done it a few times.

At college I was taught how to correctly service a tractor, even going so far as to change the belt on the engine that runs the alternator etc. I've also ran powerharrows, toppers, tillage trains, clambered all over loaders, combines and foragers etc and I enjoy fiddling with little engines on garden equipment.

But...

A lot of this was now long ago, or on much much older machinery (a 2wd Massey at college that wasn't remotely modern). I would thus be extremely hesitant to go off and service or use a modern machine with zero instruction or without asking a lot of questions first. I've never serviced quad either and would only have a rough idea of where you would even find the filler cap for the engine oil on one.

Knowing how most of us were at college, half the time we were too distracted, too hungover or too full of ourselves to take in more than 50% of it and that is even if we actually attended the session.

Unless someone goes out of their way to teach young people they will not learn a thing.

 

[Cowabunga]

A lot of this was now long ago, or on much much older machinery (a 2wd Massey at college that wasn't remotely modern). I would thus be extremely hesitant to go off and service or use a modern machine with zero instruction or without asking a lot of questions first. I've never serviced quad either and would only have a rough idea of where you would even find the filler cap for the engine oil on one.

Knowing how most of us were at college, half the time we were too distracted, too hungover or too full of ourselves to take in more than 50% of it and that is even if we actually attended the session.

Unless someone goes out of their way to teach young people they will not learn a thing.

This is what the operator’s manual and the internet is for. Instructions for servicing are almost invariably shown in the operator’s manual of most machines used in agriculture. The trickiest part on quads is always the spark plug and this needs the most care when serviced. Thankfully spark plugs these days have a very very long life in general and seldom actually need servicing on most quads. I had an Arctic Cat bike for about 15 years and it was still on its original spark plug which I removed to inspect every two or three years and was good to the end. It’s still running locally with a collector/smallholder who is into MF machinery, for it is an Arctic Cat in MF300 livery. In many ways a better bike than my current Honda 420, because it had a low range and an easier change to reverse.

EDIT
The MF300 went in to have new CV joints and cure poor running at around 10 years of age and I had the dealer [a Kawasaki dealer] do a service while it was in. I seem to remember that it might have had a new spark plug then, because it wouldn’t run properly but it turned out to be some electronic component to do with the ignition system after all and after I had taken it back to him because it still wasn’t right after the service.

 

[quavers]

I have an average intelligence Machinery Student from the local Ag college.

I asked if he knew how to change the oil and filters on a Yamaha quad. Oh yes we have done oil filter changes at college.
So I left him to do it at his leisure.

Well he drained the oil and changed the filter, but then managed to cross thread the sump plug and has now stripped the thread in the sump housing!!!!

Anyone have any suggestion on how to fix this other than a new casting?
At present he is very seriously in the Dog house and has been put to work shovelling sh1t!

how does the plug feel when screwing it in and out ? whip some ptf tape around the plug and gently screw in until its nipped up , nothing to loose if it does not work

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

how does the plug feel when screwing it in and out ? whip some ptf tape around the plug and gently screw in until its nipped up , nothing to loose if it does not work

No too far gone!
He wound it all the way in that it came out again on its own!!!!!

 

[box]

Just be thankful he didn't cross thread the oil filter!

 

[tullah]

I wouldn’t trust a student to do an oil change

Always take key out after draining off.

 

[davidroberts30]

Always take key out after draining off.

Always take the key out before draining

 

[essexpete]

Some of us are better at making mistakes than others!

Drained the Land Rover and let it drip while I went to lunch. Came back out and started to re-fill...but forgot to put the sump plug back in!

Another time, I stripped the sump plug as above. Got the local garage to repair it. That'll teach me. Do a Google on stripped sump plug. We are not alone!

Oil changes are now done with one of those pumps where the input pipe is stuck down the dip stick hole. £15 off ebay. Job done.

I have one of those suction tools, would not be good enough job for the purists on here. Found it useful except the occasion I lost the extension suction pipe down the mini digger. Air was blue on that mistake. I grovel about underneath it now.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Heard lots of stories, very easily done. Heard of a summer student being told to service a tractor and he filled the engine oil right up, newly near John Deere nearly destroyed itself by running away once it was started up.

I heard a story at college, "Rusty" (Russel Smith) the materials lecturer had a newer car, and asked an ex AA or RAC mechanic student to change the oil. It was a front wheel drive with gearbox under the engine. He drained the gearbox and filled up the engine with oil!

 

[7610 super q]

We had a brand new Case 885xl in 1986. It came complete with some annoying oil leaks. Not knowing any better, I got the trusty adjustable spanner, and gave one bolt on the bottom of the gearbox a little tweek to cure one such leak. This bolt turned out to be a hollow test plug or somesuch.......it sheared off, and dropped the entire contents of the back end on the floor.

 

[Bury the Trash]

You tube is excellent for just about everything , just be a bit selective.

also show how to reverse a bolt /set screw /nut to get the feel of a thread line up ,then the correct way and there should be no resistance either ,on a thread in good condition.
also where appropriate, like on softer metals more sensitive fixings, teach the concept of 'nipping up' , because without a torque wrench all you need do with a soft washer in good condition is 'nip up' not tighten harshly.

Trouble is experience often comes at a cost

 

[dreambollocks]

Hands up who’s never cross threaded things in their life?

 

[davidroberts30]

We had a brand new Case 885xl in 1986. It came complete with some annoying oil leaks. Not knowing any better, I got the trusty adjustable spanner, and gave one bolt on the bottom of the gearbox a little tweek to cure one such leak. This bolt turned out to be a hollow test plug or somesuch.......it sheared off, and dropped the entire contents of the back end on the floor.

That's called character building

 

[Bury the Trash]

They should have ,or be encouraged to have and use their own tools as well, for this job (low force ) tightening .. https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/laser-torque-wrench-5-25nm-quarter-inch-driv/
and i hope you gave the owners manual to them .
after all Doing it by the book is the learning starting point surely.

 

[Dry Rot]

I have one of those suction tools, would not be good enough job for the purists on here. Found it useful except the occasion I lost the extension suction pipe down the mini digger. Air was blue on that mistake. I grovel about underneath it now.

I am not about to strip another sump plug! I didn't have an instructor to tell me that the air wrench is not the best thing to undo them with! Yes, the pump is slow, but it is safe!

 

[Bury the Trash]

I wouldn’t trust a student to do an oil change

A basic engineering task and where it all starts really, so why not? someone's got to teach them.

Just keep an eye on them relative to their experience /knowledge and give a few comments as they progress with the job, its not rocket science

 

[Bury the Trash]

There are some "unseen" skills in doing just an oil change that take it from just about managing it, to doing it properly proper.

- warming the engine enough to thin the oil but not so much there's a risk of burns.
- positioning the wheels correctly so you can access areas you need to before loosing out the oil
- Slackening the filler cap before removing the sump bung so it doesnt air lock
- removing the filter such it doesnt cascade oil everywhere
- lubing the new filter seal and if vertical, filling the new filter with oil before putting it on hand tight.
- new sealing washer on sump bung and torquing it up to spec, opposed to "possibly tight enough" (i.e strips the thread or comes loose in service.)
- rags etc around the filler hole so not to pour new oil everywhere.
- appreciating the right amount of time to allow the level to settle to bring it up to correct on the dipstick depending on where the filler is (rocker cover or direct to sump)

no doubt afew other things too, but you get the idea. Eg forgetting to tighten the plug so it falls out or grossly overfilling the sump can rapidly kill the engine in work, it needs to be done right.
-

and don't forget to Replace sump plug before refilling with new oil

and wheres the embarrassed emoj

btw oil capacity will be in manual .
and another one worth reminding , Also as said above but worth repeating more than once....remove the key from the ignition and don't leave it easily available so that the engine doesn't get started mistakenly before the job is totally finished, some engines have been ruined by starting without oil in during the job.