l354uge

Picture me happily;y driving down the a45 on a lovely sunny Friday when I hear a load of loud bungs under the car. Me, thinking the piney anti-roll bar I made two weeks previous had failed do a little weaving to see if the car handles funny. 200 yards down the road I pull over to assess the damage but see nothing wrong with the rear suspension, what I do see is oil running down my exhaust which leads my eyeline to the oil pouring out of the sump. I panic and switch the car off instantly. Check sump, sump is fine but the sump plug is missing! thread is fine in the sump so it didn't strip out.. Call friend, he's goes off to ECP to grab me a new sump plug and some oil, bung them in and she still lives! Drive home in a cloud of burning oil smoke, wincing the whole time. This isn't just a story, I have some queries. 1: How the heck does a sump plug just fall out? I changed the oil two weeks previous and I know I tightened it. I can only think the combination of reusing the washer and old plug aswell as not clearing the oil off the threads before screwing it in. 2: How did I manage to get 200 yards with the sump plug missing before the oil pissed out!? Crankcase depression is only small, theres no way -1~kPa of vacuum can hold in 3 litres of oil! maybe my weaving stopped it reaching the hole (unlikely, not an F1 car) or the oil pump was working hard enough to suck up most of the oil before it left.... Any ideas? I'd like to understand whats happened so I can make sure it doesn't again...

Holy thread revival batman! BMW E36 323I Coupe I bought for £480 from a bloke in Fleetwood who wasn't even the owner. But I'd just sat on a train for 4 hours, and then in the back of his mates car from the train station for 30 minutes and the tyres were brand new michelins so I took the chance. Bar overheating a few times when I'd got back to Coventry (fan didnt work so got hot in traffic and coolant came out when I opened the cap, I then refilled it without bleeding, doh!) it never let me down. It was cream crackered though so I sold it to a drifter for £450.