Cracked oil pan - suggestions?

[KHolden]

I've got an N style oil Pan here in NY, let me know where you are if needed.

I may take you up on that. I ordered the alumaloy and honestly I wanna see if that stuff even works. If it doesn't then maybe we can work out a deal for your pan.

[j-dawg]

To upgrade to the new style oil cooler, the coolant pipe in the back of the engine would also need replacement. I don't think the pre-99 cars had tees for the oil cooler. Maybe an hour or two, plus lots of wrestling and cursing. Plus the two hoses which I think come out to like $50.

But if you leave the old cooler in place, I'm pretty sure you should be able to just leave the coolant lines on the new one unplugged and use it as a blanking plate. Not the neatest solution but it's cheap.

No matter what pan you use, clean out the square PCV passage and verify that's it's clean all the way through. That can become clogged, and it's hard to get all the crud out once it's built up. You should be able to squirt water in the top and observe it draining into the sump.

[Chuck W]

I do have a couple N pans here, so if you decide you need one, let me know.

[KHolden]

Just a quick follow up. Despite the significant damage I was able to epoxy it using "Hy-Poxy H-450 Alumbond 6.5 oz Aluminum Putty Repair Kit". It's a two part aluminum epoxy mix. I had the stuff laying around from when I repaired a cracked intake manifold on my Jeep and figured, why not? It's advertised to plug cracked engine blocks, I gotta believe it can handle an oil pan.

Thoroughly cleaned the fractured area, abraded it with some 200 grit sandpaper, rammed the epoxy into all the cracks (that corner was pretty well shattered) and let it cure for 24 hours. So far so good. I'm in Colorado so we've had some very cold weather but the stress of heating and cooling doesn't seem to be a problem so far. Leak is stopped, the repair area shows no sign of cracking despite going from 0 to operating temp and local and freeway driving for the last 100 miles.

It's not pretty but it sure was cheap and infinitely easier than actually trying to get that pan out for a proper repair/replacement. Also motivated me to finally install the aluminum skid plate I've had laying around for nearly a year.

[scot850]

Probably close to 35 years ago I repaired the fuel bowl on a BMW carb that the dealer cracked. Cost of a new carb was 650 pounds which I could not afford and they refused to accept responsibility in spite of the fact they had just removed it and regasketed it as it had an air leak.

I found some metal epoxy (can't recall the brand) that claimed to work with gasoline and oil. It ran fine for 2-3 years until I could afford to swap out the crappy BMW Solex for a Weber carb. Car got way better mileage and rev'd better.

I would hope with todays' technology, the epoxies should be better. Good luck, but maybe worth a quick check once a week just to be sure, particularly here in the winter.

Neil.

[KHolden]

> maybe worth a quick check once a week just to be sure, particularly here in the winter.

You can bet I'll be keeping my eye on it. And I have a 5 quart jug of oil in the back which should get me home in an emergency unless the whole thing breaks away which is highly unlikely. I expect that if it does fail it will do so with a hairline crack. But there are more than a few folks saying this is the good stuff and will last many years.

Alsoi, my V70 is 22 years old now. I think a year or two more is about all I can expect out of her anyway before repair costs start to outweigh replacing her, so this fix seems to be a good fit.

[manovlov]

Job well done ! just have a look from time to time...

Manov

[KHolden]

Just a follow up - almost two years now (including two Denver winters) and despite that damage to the pan, the aluminum epoxy fix is still holding up great. Zero leaks, no sign of cracking. Good stuff.

[abscate]

Thats a great followup on that repair, the collective thanks you.

[scot850]

Likewise, thanks for giving us the follow up. Much appreciated and encouraging news!

Neil.