OK I originally posted a few weeks ago about my repair of the cam positioning sensor and the oil sending sensor. After reinstalling everything I dropped one of the three throttle body bolts. I looked everywhere and could not find it. So I jacked the car up and when I did I noticed an oil leak of a fair size, After two days of searching I finally found the oil leak which was a punctured oil pan. I had initially thought that the bolt fell on top of the leaf spring and when I jacked it up it punctured the oil pan. Well I did find that throttle body bolt and it was completely dry and free from any oil on it. I took a tissue and cleaned the bolt but on the tissue was no residue and no dirt. If this had punctured the oil pan there would have been oil on it. I discovered that when the car was jacked up and the tires unsupported there is no clearance between the front leaf spring and the oil pan. But after I supported the tires on a ramp there was about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch clearance. I decided to have the dealer replace the oil pan due to the labor intensive job this was going to be ($2400) Well the dealership just called me and told me that replacing the oil pan is useless unless I have have the leaf spring replaced due to it hitting the oil pan. There are two brackets on the leaf spring which are attached to it that are made on to it and to replace the brackets the entire leaf spring has to be replaced. These brackets are in bad shape and causing the leaf spring to flex too much hitting the oil pan. This increases the job now to $5200. I have no choice but to have this done now that it is at the dealership. I may be able to do the leaf spring which has to be done prior to the oil pan. So I would have to tow it back do that work and then tow it back to the dealership for the oil pan. There are several other things that will be performed while the mechanics are in the area that will be parts only charge. Posting this to let others know what they may look for and check the clearance on the leaf spring directly under the oil pan. That oil pan and labor alone are expensive and for one to do this themselves is very labor intensive. The shop manual is 6 hrs at $150 an hour is not cheap. The oil pan alone through the dealership is $1300 and I bet they will not let you bring them one for them to install. So for your sake check the leaf spring and those two brackets to see the condition of them. Hope this saves someone the heartache I am now experiencing.

 

Man, talk about some bad luck. Hope you get things fixed up so you can get back to enjoying your car again. Your wallet will certainly be a lot lighter.

 

Yea hope you have better luck, even though I couldn't read it all.
Paragraphs!!!


Rock on Santana! Rock on!
Six decades strong!

93 Vette
​​​​​​​74 Capri (modified)

 

Sorry long but no other way to describe it.

 

I will be checking my leaf springs for sure, I just added to my list of things to do when it comes out of winter storage.
Sorry for the bad luck and thank you for the information.

 

I'll be sure and check mine, thanks for the info.

 

I PMed a forum member who works at a dealer. He should know if this is BS, or not. Ill post his answer, either way. BUT, I've never heard of this, and my C5 has 125,000 miles on it, and the spring isn't even close to the pan. It may be possible the bolt was between the spring and pan, and you hit a substantial bump in the road, causing the pan to fail, then the bolt moved to where you found it......

 

OK, I heard back. The member said it sounds suspicious to him, too. I don't know if you have the 2 piece pan, but if you have a 2000-up MY, you should have the 2 pc. If so, that would make it even easier to repair. $5,200.00 for what's going on is ludicrous in my book......

 

If you own a car, that is the time to get with a qualified, trusted mechanic. You don't just pick a guy out of the weeds when you need a repair. You seek input from other car owners. Who do they use? That kind of thing. Then you don't have to take it to the dealer where you get charged too much. I priced new rims and (snow) tires for an econobox Ford to see what they would charge me. It was $2500+.

I ordered everything myself and took it all to a tire store. $950. New rims matching what's on the car from ebay were $165 each. Dealer charge was going to be 900+ per rim. lol!

Good luck getting out of the dealer without feeling like you got robbed. I don't like them much.

 

Question, why not just have a welder do a spot weld at the puncture? Just asking from some not in the know.

 

That price vs the parts and work being done sounds about $2k too high to me. Considering the cost... I'd suggest shopping the job around.

Also... if you have a manual trans and DON'T have a clutch bleeder? I'd suggest having a shop add one while they are in there.

 

I have a one piece on the car now that is cracked and the only ones now available new are a two piece

 

Yeah, you're totally getting ripped off. For what they want to charge you, you could just remove both leaf springs, and install coilovers. I understand costs vary from place to place, but dealerships are almost always way more expensive. Often their work isn't as good either. I have an independent shop here in VA that specializes in Corvettes and classic cars. Their shop time is $95/hr. Plus, they are more than happy to use parts that I bring them. Honestly, coilovers are $1000-$2500. How can you justify paying an addition $2800 to replace a single leaf spring?

 

Well the car is there now at the dealership in which it had to be towed This dealership comes highly recommended by our local Corvette club and several of my friends that have used them. I would have to again have it towed to someone else whose bid was even higher than the dealership. If I had a lift and a way to pick the engine up a few inches I think I would attempt this myself
.

 

The job also includes replacing the front spring and a few other gaskets and seals while they are accessible in the area of the work to be done. This sucks big time I was not expecting this and I do 80% of all my repairs and maintenance myself (thanks to this forum and others who post info on here) on my Corvette. Read my entire post on this matter and hopefully someone else can inspect that front leaf spring and decide if the oil pan is in any danger of being punctured.

 

The 2pc is the later pan, I'm 99% certain. It offers some servicing advantages that the single piece can not........

 

Man that sucks. I hope mine doesnt or didnt get damaged. I had it on jackstands for a week the first day had about 3/4" but before lowering the car couldnt even fit my fingers between the oil pan or leaf spring. Did yours leave a big oil leak or simply a crack that would seep or leak?
I didnt get to see enough as i had brakekleened the front frover had alot of grime which ended up on the leaf spring from what i could tell there was no gap. I did have it on jackstands but soon realized it may crack the oil pan if it sat any longer and lowered the vehicle.

 

It cracked, about four or five hair line cracks which leaked about 2 qts out in about 30 minutes

 

I asked three to four guys that weld this material (cast aluminum) and they all told me that the material acts weird after being heated and would not guarantee that any weld would be a permanent fix.

 

I would think so There is an upper pan and a lower pan on the 2 piece