Oil Pan Rotting Off

Bdub · Post by **Bdub** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:03 am

So, I knew my oil pan was pretty rusty. I knew it probably needed to be replaced eventually. WELL, now it appears it is rusting to the point of oil seepage out of the top where it meets the engine. It may very well just be the gasket, but if I'm going to take the pan off, it may as well just get replaced.

My main concern here are the bolts which attach the pan to the block. They look like they are disintegrating off at this very moment.

Are there any tricks to get these rusty bolts out (other than a month soak of PB Blaster), because I have this horrible feeling they're all going to snap off at the head when I try to remove them.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:29 am

If they do snap off, they should leave some meat behind to grab with something once you have the pan off. I had a couple snap on me, but it wasn't a problem. On almost all of them, the heads were pretty rotted. I had to find a smaller socket and hammer it on. In a rare success for that technique, I was actually able to get most of them off. Of course, it was spray, turn, spray, turn back a little, spray, etc. The good thing is there isn't much torque on them.

Bdub · Post by **Bdub** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:57 pm

Excellent, thank you. That was actually the method I was planning on using.
The ones that worry me the most are the ones near the cross member that look tough to get at while they are in one piece, nevermind busted.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:00 pm

I did it with the engine on a stand, so it was much easier. You can probably pop the nuts off the engine mounts and jack the engine up a little to get at it better.

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:03 pm

You can stick a block of 2x4 between the engine crossmember and the engine, which will keep the engine up a little bit more to get at the back bolts for the oil pan......it still sucks though...

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:41 pm

Too bad these weren't English cars in a way—the oil leaks would keep the damn bolts from corroding!

Bdub · Post by **Bdub** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:46 pm

Ah yes, I forgot to mention the important part about the engine still being in the car.

The funny thing is, the corrosion seems to be worse where heat exposure was obvious from the headers. The front bolts are far more gone than the rears near the X member, which basically still have the black paint on them.

Although it's seeping from the back portion, but as I said, may or may not be directly related to the pan corrosion in the first place.

tturnpaw · Post by **tturnpaw** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:25 pm

mmmm east coast cars.

1-3-2-4 · Post by **1-3-2-4** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:38 pm

sure it's not the rear oil separator?

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Oil Pan Rotting Off

Oil Pan Rotting Off