colnerov
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Back in the day Transits and Sherpas sometimes had carbon fibre composite leaf springs, so not a new innovation.
- Thread starter Bornfree
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Back in the day Transits and Sherpas sometimes had carbon fibre composite leaf springs, so not a new innovation.
AVI_8
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No signs of mine breaking on an X3 with big heavy doors and 133,000 milesI noticed my mates German car had door restraints that were plastic...definitely fine for the warranty period I guess and saves weight too.
sako243
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Some of them are only glued on too. Parents hired a van, I said there was a fair bit of oil under it when I called in at their place so Enterprise sent the AA out who said its RAC because it's under warranty. RAC chap scooted underneath and the sump (lowest point on the vehicle bar some suspension stuff) had taken a clout and was all but hanging off. You'd have thought a bolt or two wouldn't go amiss. Surprisingly the plastic was intact it was just the bonding on the glue which had been knocked loose. Of course trying now glue it back on a dirty block was not going to work easily...
indy4x
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I wouldn't be worried, loads of 4x4s from the 90s onwards have plastic tanks, they take a fair bit of a abuse
My 2.8TDi Frontera did have its plastic tank in a steel cradle but the Phase 2 Jeep Cherokee XJs and all of the Grand Cherokee ZJs had plastic tanks and no steel guards. I've dragged their arses over plenty of rocks and they have all survived
Erie Fred
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Corvette's use a single fiberglass leaf.
Corvette leaf spring - Wikipedia
IIRC Goldsworthy Engineering made the special pultrusion machine
Tractors have plastic tanks to and in a fairly exposed place and I've only heard of a couple of problems. And from memory that was on forestry tractors with lumps of wood going through the tanks
james butler
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so do renault master vans
even had a spare set from scrappy as i didnt trust them but they worked fine
james butler
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no different to the plastic oil filter housing used on transporters that crack easily when changing the filter that only then leaks when bombing down the motorway and letting you know via a seized engine or the oil light before damage is already done if your lucky
im not an advocate for ford even though i have a transit but all vehicles are as bad as each other these days, at least with some they are predictable and can be fixed
Bobupndown
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I'd never heard of this, wow interesting.
Never had an issue doing multiple oil changes on a number of cars using this type of filter housing. Always thought they seem very robust. Whereabouts do they crack?
Glassfibre I was told. My 2008 Master has composite rear leaf springs.
Ford Ranger.
Tbh I'd think a plastic sump was way down the list of worries on a Euro6, wet belt Ford engine!
(See quite a lot of the older 2.2L Transit/ Ranger stuff coming in for remedials at work... I ask for rough mileages & between 110k & 150k miles is common. Now though more 2.0L Ecoblue wet belt Euro6 stuff coming through - 2 in the last fortnight, both snapped wet belts. One head is looking at all new valves, lifters & followers, plus valve seat work etc, & the garage are still evaluating the block & bottom end - but a new water & oil pump, plus full strip & check of pistons, bores & crank, with reassembly going to need crank brgs, main cap & conrod bolts etc etc as a minimum . Recon engine is heading up the £6k bracket).
Tbh I'd think a plastic sump was way down the list of worries on a Euro6, wet belt Ford engine!
(See quite a lot of the older 2.2L Transit/ Ranger stuff coming in for remedials at work... I ask for rough mileages & between 110k & 150k miles is common. Now though more 2.0L Ecoblue wet belt Euro6 stuff coming through - 2 in the last fortnight, both snapped wet belts. One head is looking at all new valves, lifters & followers, plus valve seat work etc, & the garage are still evaluating the block & bottom end - but a new water & oil pump, plus full strip & check of pistons, bores & crank, with reassembly going to need crank brgs, main cap & conrod bolts etc etc as a minimum . Recon engine is heading up the £6k bracket).
Ubique
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The transmission lower cover ('sump') will be plastic, as are a lot of engine oil sumps, the 'plastic covered steel' referred to is a door check strap, a common fitment for many years - as are plastic transmission & engine sumps, which contrary to popular assumption, are not really prone to being damaged. The one in the OP must have had a point impact because they're quite capable of supporting the weight of the transmission or engine when removing either. Volvo were the first cars I saw with Nylon composite suspension components, seemed to work well.
RE the blue oval thing, took our 2.2 Euro 5 transit motorhome for MOT yesterday, happened to mention it had an engine rebuild since the last one. Mot man said they,d just done one recently for Rhydwyn the electrician, piston split, block scrap. That makes 5 locally, in the land of sheep and few people - who said this wasn't a thing?
My Canadian brother has a newish Ford 150 truck, nice thing. But if you watch that American garage owner stripping one of the v6 petrol turbo engines down he'll tell you they have common failure point and they strip one a month...
My Canadian brother has a newish Ford 150 truck, nice thing. But if you watch that American garage owner stripping one of the v6 petrol turbo engines down he'll tell you they have common failure point and they strip one a month...
Having spent the past month plastic welding and 3d scanning ready to print replacements of a '96 mercedes slk's interior where ALL of it is super brittle and covered in microcracking, I've very much noticed.
Yet the Opel astra G from '97 I'm cutting donor plastic out to weld in to reinforce things has no cracks at all yet its also made of ABS. I put the blame on the soft touch coating that mercedes put on it to make it more luxurious leeching into the base abs and ruining it over time.
Also we scrapped our 2006 ford galaxy people carrier thing in 2021 because its plastics had gone brittle and every time you went to do a oil or filter change or disturb anything to work on it, the filter brackets and various parts under the hood were plastic and would all break. So yes, perfect for the lifespan of a vehicle, provided that's 15 years max.
All bets are off how long one will maintain structural integrity of a oil pan holding in hot contaminated fluids over a extended period, and nobody really has tested it nor cares if at 5 or 10 years they all start cracking.
Fuel tanks are a different type of plastic, closer to nylon than abs I've noticed when cutting into them and they dont give issues it seems, as I've never seen a leaker without major obvious damage, and metal fuel tanks inevitably leak over time.
But even having wrote that, someone at the car manufacturers will be looking if they can enshittify the lifespan and save a few pence per car switching materials with that 6 year lifespan goal in mind.
I hate the short life design cycle ethos of modern cars...
Brad93
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My sump on 2017 Connect is plastic
anto44
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I was very sceptical when I first seen plastic sumps being fitted to engines and gearboxes but I replace way more steel and aluminium sumps per year than plastic. I regularly replace plastic gearbox sumps on audis but that's because the pick-up filter is built into the sumps. I've beaten a few of the old ones with a hammer after replacing them just to see how tough they are and they do take a lot of force to break. I'd say they're harder to break than the average aluminium sumps.
Don't run over any steel
What 3d scanner are you using? Any good?
Saw a Transit 2.2 from Ammanford way recently. Work only saw the head to attend to, but the mechanic reported that there had some issue (probably fuel injection on the outer Cylinder only) - as that pot had not only holed the piston, but also worn out the small end, so not only did the engine clatter like a dustbin half full of marbles being kicked down a hill, but there was enough play in the small end that the piston crown had kissed the valves.
The other 3 pistons, bores etc were reportedly fine.
