Oil Pan Cracked – Honda/Acura

[philh]

Been rebuilding a 97 Acura CL and noticed a small leak around the oil plug.

This seemed to start right after my wife took the car in and had the oil changed and put synthetic in it.

I figured it was the crush washer and the combination of putting synthetic in a car with 95K miles just made it leak faster.
Replaced the crush washer and bolt, torqued to 33 ft/lbs, and ITS STILL LEAKING!!

Upon further examination, noticed that there is a hairline crack/fracture, approximately 1/2″ right next to the drain hole. Looks like it was caused by stress from some idiot over-torqueing the drain plug.

Topic

[philh]

Quoted From fitone:

Agree with previous comment about trying to find a used vs new oil pan if possible. Yes, 14 year old car with rusted exhaust bolts will be a pain. Grip Tite sockets might come in handy for a job like this, rounded bolt heads will probably happen otherwise.

Personally I would just stick with mineral oil vs syn. oil for a 14 year old car. Just my opinion..

See this link for info. about leaks with syn. oil in an older car.

http://www.carbibles.com
then go to Engine Oil Bible

Thanks fitone – I was looking for facts and guidance on the synthetic/leak issue. Probably best not to tempt my luck any further and think I will drain out the synthetic and put the regular stuff back in.

3SheetsDiesel:

Thanks much for taking the time and putting together the write-up.

Really dreading the exhaust bolts… Feel like things are so rusty, it will just laugh at PB Blaster and torch. Hope I don’t break off the exhaust manifold studs or something more expensive…

If you look at the pics, the crack is really, really small — and it is tempting to try to just seal it up with something. Maybe switching back to regular oil might stop it completely. But, know this is not the right way to fix the problem.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Given that it’s a metal pan you might consider taking it somewhere to be welded or replace it, I know JB weld won’t work however. It’s not that bad of a job to replace the pan, you do need to drop the exhaust as you suggest however you just need to drop the front, once you do that you can sneek the pan out and put the new one in.

DO NOT use synthetic oil on that engine, if you do probably every oil seal will begin to leak and it may start buring oil as well. Synthetic has a different flow charaistic than regular oil and tends to cause these issues on high mileage engines. Besides if you just use the 5W 30 that’s called for and change it regularly that’s all you’ll need to do.

[philh]

Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

Given that it’s a metal pan you might consider taking it somewhere to be welded or replace it, I know JB weld won’t work however. It’s not that bad of a job to replace the pan, you do need to drop the exhaust as you suggest however you just need to drop the front, once you do that you can sneek the pan out and put the new one in.

DO NOT use synthetic oil on that engine, if you do probably every oil seal will begin to leak and it may start buring oil as well. Synthetic has a different flow charaistic than regular oil and tends to cause these issues on high mileage engines. Besides if you just use the 5W 30 that’s called for and change it regularly that’s all you’ll need to do.

Thanks Eric – Appreciate the advice on the Synthetic. Things did seem to start leaking immediately after doing this.

Have you seen a hairline crack like the one in the photos?

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc25 … f79a47.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc25 … b73b6c.jpg

I’m just wondering how long it’s been there and maybe only became visible once changing to Synthetic.

Also, thanks for the tip on dropping the exhaust. Do you just drop the A-Pipe from the Exhaust manifold, disconnect the A-pipe hanger from the block, and leave it connected to the cat?

It would help if I didn’t have to remove the (rusted) spring bolts.

[EricTheCarGuy]

At this point I would be sure that it’s really a crack and it’s really leaking. I really haven’t seen one crack like that but I suppose anything is possible. You might consider switching back to regular oil, cleaning the area and spraying leak detection powder around the area to verify that you really do have a leak there.

As for dropping the exhaust it’s exactally as you say, just drop it at the manifold and disconnect the hanger behind the engine and you’ll have enough room to sneak out the pan. Make sure it’s really leaking first however.

[philh]

Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

At this point I would be sure that it’s really a crack and it’s really leaking. I really haven’t seen one crack like that but I suppose anything is possible. You might consider switching back to regular oil, cleaning the area and spraying leak detection powder around the area to verify that you really do have a leak there.

As for dropping the exhaust it’s exactally as you say, just drop it at the manifold and disconnect the hanger behind the engine and you’ll have enough room to sneak out the pan. Make sure it’s really leaking first however.

Thanks Eric.
Wanted to get your opinion since you have seen just about everything.

I replaced the drain plug and crush washer and when it still leaked, I looked closer and saw that there was still a tiny amount coming out from the hairline you see just below the plug. If you look very carefully at the 2nd photo (and zoom in), you can see it actually extends to both sides of the drain plug.

I noticed that when I loosened the drain plug, the crack became nearly invisible and it takes a day or so to leak a drop (when cold). When warm, it comes out faster – or if torqued to 33 ft/lbs. I watched it for 20 minutes with the engine running, wiping with paper towels and it kept coming out of that spot.

Sure looks like someone over-torqued the drain bolt and the washer caused a hairline fracture – it’s lined up perfectly for this.

Because it was so small, I thought about JB Weld, but based on your advice, guess I will just order a new pan.

[EricTheCarGuy]

You could also consider the welding option, my concern with JB weld is that when you take the drain plug on and off it will stress the fracture and probably break the seal the JB weld would make. You could also replace it as you suggest, your choice really.

[Author]

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