Goodluck, I always vaccum it out the top saves touching the sump plug at all
Remember if it wasn't alloy it would probably be rotten by now nstead lol and alloy sumps tend to seal better imo as they don't tend to distort as easy.

Are you sure it didn't have a helicoil already ? , bit of a weird looking setup that would be prone to failure, if it didn't have a helicoil before it would need drilled bigger first with the correct drill before tapping or the tap will likely split the sump as its too big for the hole.

Serviced every 5k and still failing ? its not oil related then , could possibly be injectors flooding the sump with diesel or failed dpf regens doing the same as I'm sure the bottom end would be otherwise very robust indeed as is likely based on the M57 design which was near bombproof .

Tried him again today. I think he's rejecting my calls. His loss, I'll try someone who advertises a landline number. It just goes to show that online reviews are worth jack. He's got excellent reviews, one of which gushes at great length about how "nothing is too much trouble". :x If he h...

They are never going to answer the fone after 5 but I feel your pain , I had a guy lined up to level my garden for a shed and put a retaining wall up ,got price agreed a start date but he made excuses come the time for work to start and never came back lol :headbang: was trying to get an outside tap...

The drip covers at the back corners of the engine bay tend to split and that lets rain water pool on top of the 2 rear injectors which causes the electronics to fail in them over time. My drivers side one was that way so I replaced it , they are expensive for a bit of fibreglass ,over 100 quid so id...

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The motor maybe has some sort of coupling which has failed at a guess .

Mine showed over 40k left on front but inner pad was down to the metal on the side with no sensor ,outer had a lot of meat left , the outers are easy to inspect through the wheel spokes but the inners not so handy .

There is an oil separator that had a foam element in it on these that clogs and can cause blue smoke id change that first ,its on top of the engine at the back right side.

The egr coolers have a habit of leaking plus there is a return spring underneath that breaks from what I've heard and will stop it closing properly so id check for that , it sounds like the egr isn't closing causing no power .

Id be surprised if the rings were worn at that mileage

Think the brushes in the motor wear out too and see motors for sale on ebay but no idea if they would be good or not .

Looks a clean example and hopefully a cheap fix

if its released it should stay of until you try and operate it again id have thought but the danger is it isn't fully released on that side but park brake is separate from rear caliper on these like older bmws .