WANTED - A/C Oil Sump

[saintjamesy89]

Hi Folks, I need a replacement alloy a/c oil sump for my GT. Something happened on the way to the pub, a cracking rolling noise like a rock rolling under the car, nothing obviously bad happened so i carried on. Got to the pub and there is a crack and hole in the corner of my sump and the remaining oil was pissing out the bottom corner of the sump...
Luckily the incident was very close to the pub, fingers crossed no damage to the internals has been done due to lack of oil.

I need the alloy sump with a/c mounting brackets please. I'll post on fb too when I get home, currently waiting for recovery.

[Jaba]

Sorry Tom can't help you. It's the same sump on Peugeots too if you have to start looking in earnest. Strange thing to have happened without noticing whatever it was on the road that did the damage.

[saintjamesy89]

Thanks John, that's good to know.
I did have a third of a stag party in there with me. I was sober of course (at the time!) but they weren't, they did love the car and smooth suspension on the lumpy village roads.

[saintjamesy89]

I've ordered a used sump from a berlingo on ebay. There are a few differences, but at £28 posted I don't mind the gamble! Should be delivered Thursday and I'm off Friday. Fingers crossed all goes well!

[saintjamesy89]

Sump successfully fitted!

However, the holes for the mounting bolts in this sump are larger in diameter than the M8 bolts I have from the previous sump. I'm guessing this is not good and might result in excessive movement and bolt shearing? The a/c isn't finished yet so at least the compressor isnt running.

The Internet has been very unhelpful about the correct bolts to use, it isnt clear even if the berlingo uses 2 long or 4 short bolts. I'll leave one hole accessible and see if I can pop over to the local fastners shop to see what'll fit.

[David]

It's hard to tell without pictures, but from what you're describing, it sounds like the original sump has metal dowels/ lugs inside the mounting holes so they're smaller. Simply push them out and put them into your new sump.

Out of curiosity, is it the lug from the bottom of the sump, on the R/H side that's snapped off by any chance?

[saintjamesy89]

Morning David - thanks for you very reasoned reply. Of course the simplest solution would be to swap the mounting hole inserts over! I wasn't expecting to be able to remove the old inserts, but there is no harm in trying if the sump is going to be binned anyway.

I'm not quite sure what the inserts on the old sump are, it looks like a rubber bush with integral washers externally on either side of the lug. The new sump just has metal inserts, I will see if I can remove the old ones without ruining them - the rubber is a bit perished but they seem ok otherwise.

None of the lugs have snapped, unfortunately the damage was from an unknown something in the road on a country lane that hit the underside of the sump, a steel sump would have just dented but the alloy sump cracked and made a hole!

[David]

It sounds like the mounting hole inserts are different to mine. On mine, they're metal that are just pressed in to stop the bolts and compressor wobbling about. There's no rubber on mine.

That's fair enough. There's normally a lug that pertrudes from the RH side of the sump (it's not for the ac compressor), it sticks slightly below the rest of the sump, and I've managed to snap two of them off!

[Jaba]

The inserts are what I call top hat rubber bushes. They have metal inserts to match the size of the bolts used. They are important to keep the compressor in the correct position to maintain the pulley alignment otherwise the belt will squeal in protest. There are usually 4 thick spacer washers too for lateral alignment.
The whole lot is really fiddly to assemble on the car.

[saintjamesy89]

Those are precisely the ones John! Unfortunately, the Berlingo sump has a smaller diameter hole for the bushes and bolts, so the BX bushes don't fit.
I have gently removed them from the broken BX sump and if I can find someone with a lathe etc, perhaps they can be turned and reduced to the correct diameter. I am having difficulty finding anything online, I'll measure all the parameters and see if I can find a bushing specialist or even someone like Powerflex.

I have stopped using the BX for now, both of the lower bolts have gone! They were tight, but I think the fact that they had room to move around (M8 bolt in a presumed M10 hole) they have either loosened and scarpered or broken and vamoosed. I've also noticed that the belt is not correctly aligned, the metal bushes that came with the Berlingo sump (that David correctly refers to above) push the compressor too far toward the inner wing, whilst the belt isn't squealing the alignment issue - which is just visible to the eye - can't be doing anything any good.

Fiddly? You are damn right! I'm getting grumpy just thinking about having the damn compressor off again, never mind fiddling with two bushes per mounting hole, bolts, washers, nuts and of course an earth wire for something.

[panky]

Would it be easier to drill out the holes to take the BX bushes? I'm asking as I have no clue of the set up.

[Jaba]

Those are precisely the ones John! Unfortunately, the Berlingo sump has a smaller diameter hole for the bushes and bolts, so the BX bushes don't fit.
I have gently removed them from the broken BX sump and if I can find someone with a lathe etc, perhaps they can be turned and reduced to the correct diameter. I am having difficulty finding anything online, I'll measure all the parameters and see if I can find a bushing specialist or even someone like Powerflex.

Have you thought of trying a Cit/Pug dealer for the Berlingo bushes.
That misalignment will give problems. The squealing typically happens when the compressor kicks in but might not happen if you have the extra pulley(s) on the end of the sump to give good belt wrap around the compressor. Only with a fully charged system of course.