kurazee

After I fired my new engine for the first time I noticed the next day I had a small oil leak. I didn't take it for a test drive just enough to attempt to dial in the timing. It was dripping near the front oil drain plug and after a little searching I found a small crack in the oil pan. The crack is above the front drain plug on the drivers side of the oil pan. It sat on my stand for a week full of oil without leaking. Any thoughts on how or why it happened? It is a 93 and I reused the original pan.

The new pan will be here today and I plan on putting it on tomorrow or Sunday. Any tips on changing the pan while it is in the car?

Portmaster

Oil pans are thin stamped steel. Sometimes during the stamping it gets a bit thin. Add in age, vibrations as well as block flex and the oil pan will sometime develop a crack. It's just the nature of thin metal. For me the fastest way to get the pan out for me is to take loose the fan shroud and hang it on the fan, remove the starter and exhaust pipes from the headers (shortys) then take the motor mount bolts loose at the cross member. remove the steering shaft bolt under the master cylinder then take the two nuts holding the rack to the crossmember and pull it forward and down. Lift the engine as high as possible and remove the oil pan bolts. Let the pan drop then remove the two oil pump bolts and let the pump drop in the oil pan and then slide the pan out from the front. I'm sure I missed a step or two but thatts about it. One more thing that just came to mind and that is to remove the dipstick tube.

kurazee

Tx Do you think it would be best to use a engine lift or floor jack and a piece of wood to lift the engine? I was gonna loosen the tranny mounts and use my engine lift to gain a little room.

mjr46

support the area from above, you'll need all the area below to work

Portmaster

After you take the fan shroud off and disconnected the battery get the car on jack stands. Take your engine lift (I'm assuming you have one from the conversation) and lift the engine as high as possible. For safety sake put some blocks of wood between the motor mounts and cross member.

kurazee

Ever had any problems with a chrome oil pan leaking at the gasket? I've been told they are prone to leaks. I bought a summit chrome oil pan, looks good and the gasket surface is straight and smooth.

Portmaster

I'm not that familiar with Summit oil pans. What I have found is that most Chrome oil pans are cheaply built. If I was going to use a stock depth pan I'd stick to the OE pan. Like I said I don't know enough about the Summit Pan to tell you one way or the other as far as fit and quality goes but I've had pretty good experiance with just about any Summit brand part I've ever used. As far as them leaking at the gasket I've never had a problem with most any oil pan gasket leaking around the gasket. I use a good one peice gasket and RTV the corners. I'd be more worried about the cheap pans leaking around the oil drain plugs. Look in the pan and make sure the backing nuts are welded in good.

Jfsram

I'd usually be the last one to advise not doing it properly and replacing the pan is definately the right way.

But for such a small, slow leak and considering the labour involved. Consider draining the oil. Clean the crack with brake clean. Hit it with JB weld, epoxy or if you are an expert welder, a couple hits with a MIG. Refill the pan and call it done.

99BlackPonyGT

if its an original pan, then its probably rusty and not in great shape...if he tried to prep the surface for welding or jb welding, he could run into the issue of not finding a good spot... i ran into this with my f150 and my probe, both are 1994s

Portmaster

If I were going to weld it I'd find somthing to make a small patch panel and weld it around the crack. The weld will keep the crack from getting any bigger. Theres always something to make a patch panel with. Here is part of an old parts washer I used to make my shifter hole panel from. To anybody else it would have been junk, lol