Bent Oil Pan??? Problems???

[dohcGST]

my car has a bent oil pan, it was ran with a bent oil pan for a while before i had it. Well i just want to know if that can cause any problems at all, and if it can i need to buy a new one...

also with a 6 bolt oil pan work on a 7 bolt?

sorry i am new to dsm

 

[RoasT BeeF]

If it is bent that bad oil starvation could occur.

 

[turbolover2]

If it's only bent a little, it's probably OK. There is a decent amount of clearance between the pickup and the pan itself. Keep an eye on your oil pressure though, if it drops too low shut the engine immediatley. If you want to save yourself some worrying, drop the pan and bang it back into place.

No a 6 bolt pan won't fit a 7 bolt.

 

[Defiant]

Depends on where the bend is and how bad it is. If it's a street scuff, it probably won't matter. If it's away from the oil pickup, it also probably won't matter. If it's at the oil pickup, and has bent, cracked, or dislodged the pickup, your engine will die soon if it's sucking up air and making nice, foamy oil.

 

[dohcGST]

alright it is kinda big, dent, but i think i can pop it out

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by dohcGST
alright it is kinda big, dent, but i think i can pop it out

If you decided to do it yourself put several inches of sand or cat litter in a cardboard box to rest the outside of the pan in. Use a 12"-18" long 2x4 and a hammer to knock the dents out. You can round all the sharp corners / edges of the 2x4 so you don't make creases in the pan as you work.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[Lurker]

Originally posted by GTM
If you decided to do it yourself put several inches of sand or cat litter in a cardboard box to rest the outside of the pan in. Use a 12"-18" long 2x4 and a hammer to knock the dents out. You can round all the sharp corners / edges of the 2x4 so you don't make creases in the pan as you work.

Cheers,
GTM

What's the purpose of the sand/cat litter ?
Is it just for padding ? Does that mean we can also use like old towels ?

 

[Defiant]

It's to spread the impact loads instead of just making new dents. The best surface is a leather pillow full of birdshot, but sand works well, too. I'd want something between the metal and cat litter, just because of the scratching. An old Levi leg would be fine. If the pan's all that bad, just grab one from a junker.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by Lurker
What's the purpose of the sand/cat litter ?
Is it just for padding ? Does that mean we can also use like old towels ?

Yes and no, it needs to give a certain resistance and mass which the towels wont give. Spend the $2-$4 for cat litter if you don't have a rock quarry or contractors yard for sand. Get a cardboard box the size of the pan, cut the sides down so the gasket won't foul on the box sides, put several inches (5-6") of dry sand. Couldn't be any simpler, if you get good at it you can get a job working on aluminum car bodies.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[talon94es]

Hi guys, I know this is an old thread but now I have this problem thanks to a tech at my mechanics shop that did my timing belt last week!!!!! Grrrr. I just noticed while changing my oil that my pan got bent to crap! It's obvious one of his techs jacked my car up by the oil pan! No way was this their before I took it to him! I called him and he said he could maybe hammer it out and talk to one of his techs or something.

Anyways, Its not leaking but bent pretty bad. I took it out for a hard drive tonight and it seemed to by fine with oil pressure on the gauge. Would this cause incorrect reading on my dipstick or cause me to use less oil? I'm a little concerned even though I used 4 quarts of oil today. Look at the pictures below to see where my bend is. It's mainly by the bolt.

Here's links to pictures I took today.

http://home.comcast.net/~dohctalon/pics/talon/oilpan.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~dohctalon/pics/talon/oilpan1.JPG

 

[Defiant]

Other than it looking like it may be leaking around the drain plug, which would be serious, that kind of denting is just a pisser, not a problem. But the shop that did that owes you a replacement (used would be fine), non-dented oil pan.
I wouldn't trust them to do the work. They'd put the long bolts into the cam belt. I'd make them pay to have a competent shop do the replacement.
If the leak is just because you need a new crush washer, you can just write it off to being another one of those things that'll piss you off every time you think about it, but it won't cause further damage. You have to decide how much hassle you can put up with.

 

[talon94es]

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply Defiant! Yeah, I was hoping this dent won't cause any issues since I just changed my oil yesterday. And at $7 an oil filter and $3.30 a qt for oil it's not exactly cheap to just drain the new oil again just to get this pan replaced that his ignorant tech screwed up!! I called him back today upset and he more less had his tech admit he did this and he just said I told him to use a piece of wood next time. He more less said they would fix it for me.. Yeah, how nice that he would "fix it" for me. It's very difficult to get my car across town to him and now he's lost my trust so I don't believe I"ll be going back. This is after 10+ years of trusting (well, somewhat) his shop.

Either way, the bolt is NOT leaking and I haven't noticed any issues so I guess I'll just leave it like this until next spring or when I change the oil again. If I can source a pan I'm sure I could handle this job myself.

 

[talon94es]

I'm looking for a good cutout picture of the 4g63 engine to try and determine how close this dent is to my pickup. The shop that did my timing belt caused this dent by jacking the car up on the pan. My mechanic seems to think it's just fine if it's not leaking! I've heard otherwise from quite a few people about long term issues from chewed up thrust bearing to the actual pickup breaking off inside the pan.

http://home.comcast.net/~dohctalon/pics/talon/oilpan1.JPG

Basically the only cutout I've found so far was gsxitement sweet tattoo picture on his leg!

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Also, is the correct name for that just the oil pickup at the bottom?

 

[92awddsm]

If it was a 6 bolt, I would be concerned but not with a 7 bolt. The 7 bolt pickup is pretty forgiving to a dented oil pan because the it is rounded on the bottom and open on the sides. The 6 bolt pickup is flat on the bottom with no opening around the perimeter so it can easily be restricted or blocked completely due to the dent in the oil pan. If you still have the stock 7 bolt in the car, you should be fine. If you are still paranoid, you could always remove the pan and either straighten it or replace it.

 

[Defiant]

I still say you should be fine. This is a 6-bolt, and I'd not be worried about it, either. You only need about half a square inch of area to feed the pump.

 

[talon94es]

92awddsm
Thanks for all the great info on the difference between the 6 bolt and 7 bolt! It's good to know I have some extra space to work with

Defiant
Thanks again for getting/given me some great info! Also, thanks for moving this to this thread. I really appreciate the great picture! It does look like I have more space as you mentioned. My buddy must of had a 6 bolt because his was a 91 (i think) GSX. That's 6 bolt right?

I think I'll just see if my mechanic can source me a new one to but on in about 3 months since I just did my oil. I didn't see any oil pans on trader and I haven't called local junk yards yet. I guess mine should be the same as any 7 bolt 1g's?

 

[tcpx]

I was able to get a brand new oil pan in my local NAPA as I previously had that same problem... then my friend jus helped me out in replacing the old dented one, which honestly I thought was a PITA to take out on the 1g's... not sure about the 2g's

 

[talon94es]

I was able to get a brand new oil pan in my local NAPA as I previously had that same problem... then my friend jus helped me out in replacing the old dented one, which honestly I thought was a PITA to take out on the 1g's... not sure about the 2g's

Yeah, with AWD it would be a lot harder to do with the transaxle. Did you have any damage done to your oil pickup? I've heard the hardest thing is making sure it seals ok when putting a new one on.. thanks for the FYI .. I'll call my NAPA tomorrow.

 

[tcpx]

Yeah, with AWD it would be a lot harder to do with the transaxle. Did you have any damage done to your oil pickup? I've heard the hardest thing is making sure it seals ok when putting a new one on.. thanks for the FYI .. I'll call my NAPA tomorrow.

my oil pickup/pump did get bent on one side, but I've had my new pan on for about 1.5 months now and I haven't had any problems arise from not replacing the bent oil pickup or anything..
as for the hardest thing is making sure it seals okay, I totally agree with that... it took us about 3-4 tries before my oil pan stopped leaking like it had its period .. at first we got a replacement oil pan gasket from NAPA but it was no good as one of its holes didnt match the oil pan that they provided me with
then after that, we ripped the gasket out and got one of those silicone gasket makers instead.. stuffed some of it where the gasket was supposed to be, BUT we didn't let it fully treat/dry up (ie: we test drove it about 3 hours after applying the silicone.. big mistake), so the pressure still forced the soft silicone to a bunch of holes which leaked oil again...
after that, we were getting pissed off so we re did and applied some silicone again, but this time we let it SIT and treat/dry up solid for about a day or two and bam... problem solved after that, good luck

 

[talon94es]

Well I'm happy to report that I took my car back to my mechanic last week and they banged out the oil pan and cleaned the inside It looks much better now without that big dent. I just changed the oil again today and all seems well. He didn't charge me also so I'm glad this ordeal is over. I just wanted to be safe than sorry even though he said their was still plenty of room for the oil pickup with that dent. Here's a few pics of the the pan man.

http://home.comcast.net/~16v/pics/oilpan2.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~16v/pics/oilpan3.JPG