Member Since: 07 Oct 2018
Location: Abergavenny
Posts: 33
Worth replacing under-tray bolts in stainless steel??
Four hours in and I am still at stage one of my first D3 oil change. I have 3 bolts left to remove from the under-tray. Tomorrow I am off to buy a breaker bar from Halfords.
Assuming I manage to get them all out I would rather not go through all this again at the next oil change.
Is there any mileage in replacing the rusty bolts with stainless steel ones?? If yes, does anyone know the sizes?
Cheers
Chris
13th Aug 2019 7:12 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6565
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
I would just put grease on the threads.
But I feel your pain On a new to you car
P.s I don’t think they are standard sized Bolts
13th Aug 2019 7:52 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6565
Yeah - my experience is that if a bolt is missing or chances are one has to buy a genuine LR one... The breakers here don’t have many discos in general and there certainly aren’t any that would specialize in them.
13th Aug 2019 7:57 pm
oldandslow1
Member Since: 07 Oct 2018
Location: Abergavenny
Posts: 33
Of course LR have special bolts!
I have found that Advanced Factors have nice drawings with part numbers so I may just replace the lot and cover them in copper slip ( and maybe experiment with some stainless sizes)
Cheers
Chris
13th Aug 2019 8:27 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
How much are they?
13th Aug 2019 8:59 pm
oldandslow1
Member Since: 07 Oct 2018
Location: Abergavenny
Posts: 33
I have spent £20 on a range of stainless nuts and washers to give it a try. First things first though, I have to get the old ones off and do the oil change
13th Aug 2019 10:19 pm
Parky63
Member Since: 10 Apr 2017
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 401
I'm sure I had a couple missing from the engine plate (13mm) and 3 from the gearbox plate (10mm). I don't recall them being stupidly expensive - £2 each maximum (yeah, I know, expensive for a bolt). I'd be more concerned about the trouble you're having getting the engine cover bolts out. If quite a few of the 10 (IIRC) bolts are seized in there - I'd be worried about proper and regular maintenance having been carried out.
Oh, and I always refit with coppaslip.
Member Since: 05 Apr 2006
Location: leamington spa
Posts: 121
Please don't confuse the bolt size (diameter) with the head (spanner) size. Many bolts have a reduced size head these days, but any metric bolt of the right diameter and length will do the job.IIRC, the sump bash plate uses 10mm bolts and the gearbox cover 6mm.
14th Aug 2019 12:27 pm
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
Even if you use stainless, grease them otherwise you run the risk of galling the threads and then you are in trouble.
Can't find it at the mo but didn't DiscoMikey comment in a Gstuart thread that the bolts use some clever 2 part washers to prevent them them shaking loose? If so, and using plain washers, would loctite or equivalent be better than copaslip? It would keep moisture, and hence rust, from getting in the threads whilst stopping anything shaking loose..
Dean
====================================
2011 D4 XS - OBD port protection, RLD spare wheel protector, All LED interiors lights, Timed Climate enabled, iiD tool paired.
2011 D4 Landmark - Stolen from same dealer before I paid for it
2011 D4 GS - Stolen whilst at dealer ... All LED interiors lights, DRLs, Spare Wheel protector.
1996 300Tdi - Eaten by tin worms
14th Aug 2019 3:05 pm
Davethegeo
Member Since: 01 Oct 2015
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 879
Definitely. Stainless is a pain for galling so lots of good quality synthetic grease like Lubriplate (prob American I borrowed it from work...) or dollops of Coppaslip.D1 300Tdi - gone
D2 Td5 ES (Alive remapped...mmm) - sadly gone
D4 2012 SDV6 XS - Stolen
D4 2014 SDV6 HSE - Shiny
14th Aug 2019 3:07 pm
Davethegeo
Member Since: 01 Oct 2015
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 879
Member Since: 21 Oct 2016
Location: kent
Posts: 13598
Hardware17 wrote:
Can't find it at the mo but didn't DiscoMikey comment in a Gstuart thread that the bolts use some clever 2 part washers to prevent them them shaking loose? If so, and using plain washers, would loctite or equivalent be better than copaslip? It would keep moisture, and hence rust, from getting in the threads whilst stopping anything shaking loose.
Ps, recently changed my condenser , with all the bolts I removed , replaced the lot with stainless steel bolts and used coppaslip , done the same with air compressor , in the cover , air tank etc
With some of them I used a few drops of thread lock under the head of the bolts ,can’t remember if it was the blue or red thread lock
Also found the voss connectors a pain and expensive so used brass push-fits in there place on top of my struts , air compressor , valve blocks , air tank , considerably easier to install and remove the pipes
14th Aug 2019 3:16 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
I think the washers maybe there to make the bolt captive.
i.e not fall out when undone.
john ryan wrote:
Please don't confuse the bolt size (diameter) with the head (spanner) size. Many bolts have a reduced size head these days, but any metric bolt of the right diameter
Yes I think this was an issue when I found a spare for a missing one.
It required a different size socket to the others. Crazy for something that needs loosening frequently for oil changes
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chances are one has to buy a genuine LR one... The breakers here don’t have many discos in general and there certainly aren’t any that would specialize in them.
... All LED interiors lights, DRLs, Spare Wheel protector.
