I keep around 1/4 tank full in mine all the time. No danger of burning out the petrol pump by running it dry and enough to be able to use it in an emergency to get me to the next LPG station. Admittedly, I've worn out the track on the level sender around the 1/4 full mark so it sometimes reads nothing at all. Waiting for a slightly warmer day with no rain to fit the new pump I bought pre-lockdown.

I've got the same fault on the Focus - a couple of points on the sender have failed, so if the tank is full, it reads empty and a couple of other points cause odd readings as well. But at least it still starts at that regardless.

Ordinarily yes but the last few weeks I've been short of cash, due to a job change, so I had to run it down quite low!

This weekend...

Find out what is blocking my sump drain and why.

Oooo .... that doesn't sound good!

My drive from Kent to Berwick upon Tweed 350 miles one tank of fuel. Not bad for a 4.6

Poured about 50L of (virgin) cooking oil into the tank, which I had premixed with a bit of diesel.
Gave the car a wash and decided to give it a run to warm it up and charge the battery.
I had gone about a mile and the engine lost power and cut out. No phone with me! Luckily I was on a by pass road around my village with a long steep hill. I coasted at 40-50 mph in gear (an auto) for about half a mile. It was enough to spin the engine at 1500rpm. Eventually it fired up with a splutter. Phew! It was a cold day and I obviously did not add enough diesel with hindsight. Should have been a 50/50% mix minimum.

So you can tow start an auto if you go fast enough? My understanding was that as the pump isn't turning there's no drive from gearbox output to input.

You have got me thinking now Richard. The gearbox pump is powered from the input shaft and, when the engine cut out yesterday, I kept it in D the whole time, so the gearbox would continue to have the input and output shafts connected because the pump would continue to run and the torque converter would still be spinning.
If I had taken it out of D and put it in N while coasting down the hill, there would be no drive through to the engine. The engine would stop turning and the gearbox input shaft would stop. The torque converter and gearbox pump would also stop. Putting it back into D would have no effect. I would have no drive.
It is a chicken and egg situation. The engine needs to be turning over to take up the drive. That is why tow starting won't work.
Am I making sense? Anyone disagree?

That makes perfect sense. As you say, even though the engine had stopped firing it was still connected and the pump and torque converter was still turning. So my thinking was right, if the engine isn't turning the pump won't be so there's no drive so it isn't possible to tow start an auto, no matter how fast it is moving. I'll carry on keeping a spare starter motor in the boot when I disappear off to the Continent......

Went to get center cap for vogue wheel and got a range rover classic bull bar to fit my 300tdi as well

Hitched up the trailer for a run down to the recycling center. I was driving around a couple of twisty roundabouts with the trailer on the back and the horn went off full blast when I used the RH indicator. WTF. It did it twice but has not done it since. It was only when I was turning right and only when the RH indicator was on. Nearly a case of road rage. Guy in front lost his cool a bit.
Any theories? Loose connection? ....... unlikely, never heard of it before. Maybe condensation on the switch gear?
Inside of the car is damp. Aircon not worked for yonks. A job on my to do list.
Also bought a set of (used) OEM polyurethane wheel arches on Ebay and just got a tube of Tigerseal to stick them on.

I did a tip run too, but they'd have a heart attack if you tried to take a trailer to our ti.. err Recycling Centre!

Had a run to Screwfix for a couple of boxes of AA and AAA batteries. Dina is putting the Christmas decorations up and all of the LED lights needed new batteries. I know, there's almost 3 weeks to go before Christmas but she insisted......

Just time to pop back before Christmas when they are all flat.

Probably, but I did buy boxes of 24 of each.

Pulled sump, oil pump housing and water pump off my parts engine. Engine degreaser and a pressure washer cleaned up the first two nicely. They’ll get swapped over to my daily runner here soon. The previous owner must have cleaned the sump at some point because there was just no debris at all in the bottom of the pan. Many loose bolts though I noticed.

Is it advisable to clean out the oil bypass spring? If not I’ll just stick to replacing the gears.

Beowulf, taking the sump out for a look and clean would be on my list, can it clear easily the axle? How did you do it? Tks!

If you jack the front of the car up on the crossmember just in front of the bottom of the radiator, leaving the wheels sitting on the ground, the gap between the sump and the top of the axle opens up enough to drop the sump.

leolito wrote:

Beowulf, taking the sump out for a look and clean would be on my list, can it clear easily the axle? How did you do it? Tks!

Pulling the pan the way Gilbert described is the way to go. Additionally, you'll want a 4x4 (a short block of lumber, like the end of a fence post) to give your floor jack enough reach.