AFAIK 40nm refers to the bigger bolts used to retain the pre-pump filter on some engines, although I am fully aware a Google search, “what torque is the sump plug bolt” or words to that effect, and more so since AI started giving the responses, often comes back with the incorrect 40Nm. People then blindly follow that as gospel. Someone did say it was printed in a Ducati Workshop/Service Manual but I’ve not come across it. Yes to the sealant too, belt & braces
I did see it in an online version of the ducati manual at one point. It's amazing the number of sump plugs i have changed because they are so tight the allen hole is rounding off.
There's also tighten, tighten, tighten...and then feel the resistance give..and stop...and "it's fine"...quickly pushing it to the back of your mind....
Odd how times change the accepted approach to maintenance. In the dim and distant past, my workshop practice Apprentice Master taught us oyks to tighten bolts by feel. We made mistakes once or twice but on test pieces. We were shown by repetition, how it felt tightening different material bolts into the same and different material threads, Whitworth, UNC and UNF. I don’t think metric had been invented when I went to school Andy
When you have finished with getting the thread tapped. Fit a Stahlbus oil drain valve, that's what I've done to all my bikes because I was sick and tired of spilling the f**king oil all over me and the garage floor from the waste oil container lying next to my shoulder when I was dicking about with replacing the sump plug ready for putting in the new oil, over-filling with the new oil and then having to drop the level by opening the sump plug again to drop the level.
Thank you , i was thinking my workshop years were for nothing. I use torque wrenches of various sizes but that sump bolt goes in by feel.
I notice from their website, the only photographs are of side exit sumps. How much does the unit protrude on a bottom exit sump ? Just thinking about clearance with the sump guard on my Pikes Peak. Andy
I've got a plug like that on my Land Rover, certainly makes oil changing easier with no worries of stripping/leaky plug when refitting or even requirement for any tools but, it does stick out quite a way which is no problem on the Land Rover as it has over 2 feet of ground clearance and the sump plug is on the side of the sump anyway, so no risk of it hitting anything. On a Ducati with the plug underneath and not much ground clearance it might be risky if going over a kerb etc? plus you lose the tell-tale magnet that has alerted me to serious issues more than a couple of times.
