Some here may remember my saga of the irremovable Peugeot wheel locking bolt, renowned (and perhaps welcomed) in the trade as sometimes needing welding expertise to extract. (Memo to Peugeot - learn from Ford).
After its recent oil change, I noticed a small circle of oil on the ground under the sump - so I tightened the plug a bit more. No luck, so I drained the oil into a clean container for reuse and inspected the offending plug. Lo and behold, after a mere four tightenings (once at the factory, once (possibly) at the first 1yr garage service, and two by me (10k and 20k miles), the presumably single use squashable copper curtain ring had been reduced to a nanometric sliver of uselessness.
The sump plug of our old Ford Focus, after well over a dozen retightenings, went to the scrapyard with its well designed sump plug and thick intrinsic alloy washer intact. Having to replace a washer every time is so-o-o last century. (Memo to Peugeot - learn from Ford, and think what comes before the words ......'ha'porth of tar').
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