Well I just drove 40 miles and all seems normal but I can see your point, but wouldn't the pressure warning go off if the pressure dropped, or by the time that comes on are you in trouble? ? I'm not cheap but I had the pickup replaced about 150 miles ago and ain't too keen on forking out the 100 odd quid to basically do it again. My mechanic mate who does all my work said he thinks it will be fine
not worth the risk mate. it could be fine for 20000 miles or 20. from what I have read many times by the time the oil pressure light has come on you start hearing knocking noises from the engine so the damage is already happening before you can even react. imagine if you was pushing the car hard and was at high revs and your pressure light came on. do you think you could react fast enough? if it was my car I would be shitting it everytime I drove it. for piece of mind I would drop the sump. bearing in mind these cars have been known to suffer with oil starvation problems due to the pickup being blocked if its had shite servicing etc. that piece of plastic is not going to
help
How'd you drop the sump then?
How long will it take to do it do you reckon? If it's not a huge job to do I may do it
its not a massive job undo sump plug to drop oil out, unbolt the turbo oil return pipe from the sump, undo all bolts holding sump to the block, you may need to give the sump a bit of a whack depending on whether its been done before. mine wasn't and it took a fair bit of persuading to take it off. make sure you have a solvent to clean the sump out and the mating faces. also need sump sealant aswell.
it should'nt do any harm as the mesh in the gauze will still have plenty of room to be able to deliver enough oil as the mesh / gauze of the pick up has lots of very small holes , so it is the first filter if you understand
the pick up isn't meant to be a filter. its there to protect the oil pump from large objects that may end up in the sump that could potentially ruin the pump and engine, any objects stuck in the mesh will affect flow. even with that mesh on the pickup it still could ruin the engine if there's not sufficient oil being supplied due to that piece of plastic. like I said 5 ltrs of fresh oil, sump sealant which doesn't cost that much plus a few hours out someones day isn't a lot when you think how much an entire engine will cost plus the man hours to fit.
I was debating about whether to drop mine when my dipstick disintegrated into the sump. deffo glad I did now. the pickup on mine was clean as a whistle probably due to the fact its been serviced well except for the bit of plastic that surprisingly took up a lot of room on the mesh. glad I didn't drive it or have any issues. its just not worth the risk
