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I noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor coming from under my 04 cpe.
Further investigation revealed the dipstick was a quart low. Even at 122,000 mi, it has never used oil. I jacked the car and saw oil everywhere on the oil pan. At the front of the pan, parallel to the front side where the front spring sits, there is a crack in the pan.
It is almost impossible for anything other than the spring hitting the pan to have caused this. Has anyone ever heard of this happening?
When I removed the front spring, I can see a lot of small, almost like scratches, running lengthwise between the two spring bushings.
First, any recommendations on what I could use to patch the crack? Should I stop-drill the ends of the crack?
If I have to change the pan, can I do this without removing the engine?
Finally, should I assume the spring is bad?
I have the tools and skills to do this in my garage, but funds are very limited.
Its tough to weld repair a cast Aluminun oil Pan as it contaminated with oil and hard to weld. Not impossible but, most likely easier to get a good used one. Good thing is The oil pan is in TWO sections. A upper and lower.. The LOWER section of the pan is VERY EASY to replace. You can do it in a few hours with basic hand tools.
Several things that I would ckeck!
-Condition of the engine mounts
-Make sure the spring isnt cracked and the rubber mounts are not damaged.
Contact Marc at VETTENUTS as he has NUMEROUS good used parts. Good people to deal with also..
Bill
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Last edited by Bill Curlee; Nov 15, 2015 at 10:14 PM.
Thanks for your reply, unfortunately, it's the upper part of the pan that is cracked. Appears to me that engine will need to be lifted and the front cradle dropped to change it.
Not sure there is anything wrong with the spring, although it is tough with a photograph. Examine the rear spring, I think you will see similar surface imperfections.
As for the pan, are you sure that is a crack or just a scratch? If it were a crack, your oil would be empty and the leaking would continue. Before buying a pan, check the front seal and other components that leak with time/mileage.
If it is the pan, you may want to check the classifieds and also put a Want to Buy out there. Some of the road race guys swap out their pans for a later one so there may be available there as well.
Good luck.
Last edited by vettenuts; Nov 16, 2015 at 08:00 AM.
I mentioned this last year, but FWIW, I'll mention it again. Last fall, as I was getting my C-5 ready for winter storage, I noticed the oil pan was "wet" with oil. I feared the worst, but hoped for the best, and thought I'd check the lower oil pan bolts. (IIRC, the torque spec is 106 INCH/pounds) Anyway, they were ALL loose! I snugged them to spec, and as I was looking under there a couple of days ago, everything looked dry.
Just something to check, before pushing the panic button....
Here is a view of the pan from a different angle. It is a crack and oil does leak from it when the dipstick is higher than a quart low. what I can't figure out is how this happened. It obviously had to be the spring hitting the pan. The crack is parallel to the front side of the spring. I'm going to change the motor mounts along with the pan, spring, shocks and bushings. If I did not love this car so much.....
Look in GOOGLE and see if you can find a welding shop in your area. Discuss the repair with them and see if they will be willing to take on the job. How much it cost VS new/used pan.
If they can clean the pan and crack enough, they may be able to weld it. It would need to be removed from the engine.
Look in GOOGLE and see if you can find a welding shop in your area. Discuss the repair with them and see if they will be willing to take on the job. How much it cost VS new/used pan.
If they can clean the pan and crack enough, they may be able to weld it. It would need to be removed from the engine.
Its another option that you can investigate.
BC
I think I have found someone who will sell me a used upper pan, if not, I have a friend who can most likely weld it. It crossed my mind to grind the surface flat and use sealed aluminum rivets to put on a thin aluminum plate with either JB weld or RTV or both underneath the plate. Since I will never be able to afford another vette, retired last year, I want to keep this one running and in as good a shape as possible.
If all else fails,,,, and you decide to EPOXY it, I would NOT drill the pan. Just drain all thhe oil, clean it extremely well, grind it flat, flush well with brake parts cleaner. Flush the crack well with high velosity cleaner out of the little red tube on the can of brake parts cleaner.
Find an aluminum plate and drill holes in the outside edge of the plate, smash epoxy in the crack, cover the outside with epoxy and push the plate into the epoxy. They sell a epoxy primer. I would see if you can find some of that.
If it doesnt work, its easy to recover and weld later.
If all else fails,,,, and you decide to EPOXY it, I would NOT drill the pan. Just drain all thhe oil, clean it extremely well, grind it flat, flush well with brake parts cleaner. Flush the crack well with high velosity cleaner out of the little red tube on the can of brake parts cleaner.
Find an aluminum plate and drill holes in the outside edge of the plate, smash epoxy in the crack, cover the outside with epoxy and push the plate into the epoxy. They sell a epoxy primer. I would see if you can find some of that.
If it doesnt work, its easy to recover and weld later.
Bill
I found the upper pan here on the forum from Anti Venom. He was kind enough to split the upper and lower and just sell me the upper. Thanks for your help and advice. Given the pace I work these days, I should be done in a month or so.
As per the cause; My guess is that there was a defect in the cast aluminum that got worse with heating and cooling cycles over the years (thermal expansion). Aluminum expands quite a bit more than iron with heat. Normally these pans can take a lot of abuse.
I'm glad you didn't weld it because the shape could distort causing more leaks.
Used pans aren't that hard to find but the gaskets are a little pricey.
a friend of mine cracked his RX7/LS1 pan, and he ended up doing a brazing job to it.. i wouldnt necessarily call it welding. superheated the pan and used an aluminum patching rod thing to melt into it, kind of like soldering/brazing.
as far as i remember, that worked for him for at least a couple of years. but if thats a structural defect as somebody mentioned, you'd definitely find out when you heat it with a torch! and Bill's right.. welding oil pans is notoriously a headache. considering the different expansion rates of hot metal/epoxy/whatever else you'd fill it with, and the fact that it's holding the blood of your engine, i would replace it if somebody local isnt very confident in welding it.
Any idea how this happened?
