Here at enginesandgearboxes.co.uk we are able to assist you in finding the right used sump or reconditioned sump. By using us, you are able to put your request for a sump forward to multiple breakers throughout the UK. This saves you the hassle of having to contact scrapyards or breakeryards to find the right gearbox for your car. All our sumps are supplied with a 100% money back guarantee.

What is a Sump?

A sump is a low space that collects any often-undesirable liquids such as water or chemicals. A sump can also be an infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers. One common example of a sump is the lowest point in a basement, into which water that seeps in from outside the house flows. If this is a regular problem, a sump pump that moves the water outside of the house may be used.

Examples

Another example is the oil pan of an engine. The oil is used to lubricate the engine’s moving parts and it pools in a reservoir, known as a sump, at the bottom of the engine.

Use of a sump requires the engine to be mounted slightly higher to make space for it. Often, though, oil in the sump can surge during hard cornering, or starving the oil pump; for these reasons, racing and piston aircraft engines are “dry sumped” using scavenge pumps and a swirl tank to separate oil from air which is also sucked up by the pumps. Another example is in an aquarium, mainly a reef system. The sump sits below the main tank and is used as a filter, as well as a holding place of unsightly equipment such as heaters and protein skimmers. The main advantage of having a sump plumbed into an aquarium is the increase of water in the system, making it more stable and less prone to fluctuations of pH and salinity.

A diving snorkel can have a sump section located below the mouthpiece. This allows excess moisture from the breath and liquid from the ocean to settle and remain in the sump, so that it does not impair the snorkeler’s breathing.
In a nuclear power plant’s reactor housing, the role of the sump will be to collect any overflow of primary loop coolant; in this case, monitoring and pumping of the sump is an important part of the reactor’s safety system. The equivalent of a sump on a boat is the bilge.

Why do some engines use a dry sump oil system?

Most production cars have a wet sump oil system. The Sump is in the area below the crank shaft. In a wet sump, the oil that you put into the engine is stored beneath the crankshaft in the oil pan. This pan has to be large and deep enough to hold four to six quarts of oil, think about two 3-liter bottles of soda and you can see that this storage area is pretty big.

In a wet sump, the oil pump sucks oil from the bottom of the oil pan through a tube, and then pumps it to the rest of the engine. In a dry sump, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine rather than in the oil pan. There are at least two oil pumps in a dry sump, one pulls oil from the sump and sends it to the tank, and the other takes oil from the tank and sends it to lubricate the engine. The minimum amount of oil possible remains in the engine.

Dry sump systems have several important advantages over wet sumps:

  • Because a dry sump does not need to have an oil pan big enough to hold the oil under the engine, the main mass of the engine can be placed lower in the vehicle. This helps lower the centre of gravity and can also help aerodynamics (by allowing a lower hood line).
  • The oil capacity of a dry sump can be as big as you want. The tank holding the oil can be placed anywhere on the vehicle.
  • In a wet sump, turning, braking and acceleration can cause the oil to pool on­ one side of the engine. This sloshing can dip the crankshaft into the oil as it turns or uncover the pump’s pick-up tube.
  • Excess oil around the crankshaft in a wet sump can get on the shaft and cut horsepower. Some people claim improvements of as much as 15 horsepower by switching to a dry sump.


The disadvantage of the dry sump is the increased weight, complexity and cost from the extra pump and the tank — but that’s a small price to pay for such big benefits!How to fix an oil sump leakThe sump or oil pan is located at the bottom of the vehicle. It is used to collect the oil that drains from the engine and have it re-pumped back into the engine block. Most cars use a wet slump system, but race cars are an exception. The oil pump gathers up the oil in the sump and redistributes the same at the top of the engine.

In case there is a leak in the sump oil will start to be lost, the pump will not have oil to send to the top and the engine may soon start to develop problems. To fix the sump it has to be removed from the car. You will have to have an alternate pan kept under the engine when the sump is removed. The leak once discovered can be fixed by having it welded or welding on a patch of metal in its place.

Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
You won't believe it, I'm native Scotsman. Enthusiast. Car lovers. Almost finished rebuilding my Reliant Saber
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