oil pan leak

[mountaineerjeff]

Well I seem to be having a helluva time with rust on the vr4 I just picked up. In addition to the fuel pump assembly, the oil pan sprung a leak on the way home yesterday. havent gotten all the way into it yet, but im pretty sure its probably rust, because I never hit anything, it just starting pouring out...

so I need to get this fixed, the car is currently parked on the city street without any oil. I attempted to pull the oil pan from 1630, but realized how much stuff you have to take off to do so, and it just isnt an option on the city street, so Im going to attempt to patch it. I have lots of cleaners, and such like carb and brake cleaner, wire brush, and sand paper to try and clean up the area.

What do you guys recommend to stop the leak? im pretty much limited to local stores at this point, advance auto/napa/lowes.

 

[donkeylips]

You mean you're going to temporarily patch the pan so that you can fill it with oil then drive it somewhere where you can swap out the pan? I would just use some good ol' jb weld.
That is, if you're sure it's a hole that's developed in the middle of the pan and that it's not leaking at the flange or at the drain tube for your turbo.

 

[Street Surgeon]

If it's just a VERY temporary fix, and you're replacing the pan immediately thereafter, then I would get a small piece of that aluminum they use to repair house heating/ac ducts, cut to size, place it over the hole and then jb-weld it to the oil pan. Let her cure, then limp it home.

 

[Diego]

^ I did this when my pan cracked open from the cv...

 

[mitsuturbo]

I honestly can't imagine an oil pan rusting through.
I would hazard a guess that it's something else.

 

[trunks]

I just replaced mine. I was under it for an hour with a dye light, spot light and flash light and I couldn't for the life of me find the crack but it did have rust spots. I was losing 1 quart of oil per tank of gas too. Threw a new pan on and no more leak so I'd guess your right, but good luck finding where it's coming out. I would pull the flywheel cover and just make sure the flywheel is oil free first though too.

 

[mountaineerjeff]

there is a small leak from the oil return. but the car was fine and had driven it around and then after a nice spirited drive down a twisty road home it developed into almost a constant flow, as opposed to like on or to drips while its parked. the only thing that we did was drive it, so I was thinking that maybe a flex of the car might have cause a weak spot to pinch a open, or there maight have already been a patch from the PO and once it got hot it broke open.

Dont you need to remove the passenger axle? I was hoping to have it last until I could get a new pan. when I went to pull the pan off 1630 it looks like it was already patched once anyway.

 

[trunks]

You don't have to remove the axels. Just the downpipe and transfer case. I did have to take the front bolts off of the driver's crossmember to get it to bend down a little when pulling the pan - gets caught on the oil pickup. The intermediate shaft does get in the way but you can work around it. I took the two bolts out to move it a little bit but not out of the tranny.

I've even read you can do it with the transfer case on but never attempted.

 

[Muskrat]

Quoting mountaineerjeff:
Dont you need to remove the passenger axle? I was hoping to have it last until I could get a new pan. when I went to pull the pan off 1630 it looks like it was already patched once anyway.



Just unbolt the carrier bearing and push it out off the way.

 

[jepherz]

Any of you guys have any tips on cleaning/getting the new RTV to seal since you're professionals at this? I've put a pan on one of my cars twice, first with red RTV, then black (good for oil) and it's still freakin leaking..

 

[trunks]

I used a lot of black rtv. I made sure that every bolt threaded in with some on it. I also tightened them down lightly until it 'oozed' out, then waited for 30 minutes and tightened them up. The instructions say 1 hour but that seemed like an aweful long time to me.

If it's still leaking after redoing it, I would really suspect the pan itself. Like I said, I couldn't see any obvious place it was leaking. It only seeming to leak under power too since it would be fine until I went for a drive.

 

[mountaineerjeff]

so i went back to get it the non leaking pan off 1630 and I finally did after a lot of finagling. the problem is this one was already patched, had a hole very close to the location of the other one. So logically, if it worked for 1630, then why not 1844? So why cant i just clean it REALLY good and use something to patch it? I ran 1630 very hard from -20 degrees to 110 degrees outside and didnt even know it was a patched pan. I would definitely replace it, but I cant afford it at the moment, and the bigger reason, I dont currently have a proper place to work on it. when I get a little cash, then I could put it on a lift, pull the pan, and go ahead and change my bearings at the same time (just in case).

I would like it to make it until october.

 

[mitsuturbo]

No welder?
You could definitely weld it up.

See if someone on the forum near you has a welder and would be willing to help you out. I know if you lived within a couple hours of me i'd be more than willing to weld it up for ya. Hell, it'd only take a few minutes!

 

[mitsuturbo]

Quoting jepherz:
Any of you guys have any tips on cleaning/getting the new RTV to seal since you're professionals at this? I've put a pan on one of my cars twice, first with red RTV, then black (good for oil) and it's still freakin leaking..



As a mitsubishi dealership tech for a few years, i learned that the only RTV mitsu EVER uses is the grey permatex. You should be using the same. If applied correctly, it will *NOT* leak. When in doubt, squeeze more out!

 

[mountaineerjeff]

Quoting mitsuturbo:
No welder?
You could definitely weld it up.

See if someone on the forum near you has a welder and would be willing to help you out. I know if you lived within a couple hours of me i'd be more than willing to weld it up for ya. Hell, it'd only take a few minutes!



any dangers of getting it welded while on the car? because like i said my biggest problem right now is having a place I can leave/work on the car

 

[mitsuturbo]

No. I suggest disconnecting the ECU and battery as a precaution, but electricity takes the easiest route. Get it clean... bare metal. Weld it up. It may have a pinhole leak or something, but it's better than what you've got now... right?

 

[SouthCaliVR4]

Quoting mountaineerjeff:
Quoting mitsuturbo:
No welder?
You could definitely weld it up.

See if someone on the forum near you has a welder and would be willing to help you out. I know if you lived within a couple hours of me i'd be more than willing to weld it up for ya. Hell, it'd only take a few minutes!



any dangers of getting it welded while on the car? because like i said my biggest problem right now is having a place I can leave/work on the car



Yes the oil residue inside the pan can catch fire, as can the rest of the oil residue inside the motor. Will it? hard to say but you asked for any dangers & I'm in safty squirl mode I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[mountaineerjeff]

alright so I scrapped the rust off with a wire brush, then used sand paper to get it clean. there wasnt an actual visible hole, the heat from the downpipe mixed with the hot oil allowed it to pretty much seep through one spot. well I took a small sheet metal screw and put 2 orings on it, then I added rtv black and screwed the screw into the hole.this immediately fixed the problem, but I added a little extra sealant around the outside, and left it to cure. tomorrow, Im thinking of covering the whole spot with jb weld, screw and all. the pan will be replaced as soon as I have access to a garage, but hopefully this will last for a little while.

 

[mountaineerjeff]

just went and checked and it was completely dry, I went ahead and covered the bolt and everything with GOOP. hopefully it will work.

 

[mountaineerjeff]

just decided to keep this thread going instead of starting a new one.
the oil pan held just fine and took a nice beating and a few hundred miles. didnt leak any oil on a trip to and from pitt.
well it ended up leaking again after the last time I drove it. Im not sure if the same hole started again or if it wore a new spot. but either way I just pulled my pan off the parts car and took it to the machinist. I had the pan stripped, then the holes all welded and then I had a -10 AN fitting welded to the pan so I dont have to worry about any leaks. I also gonna use a phosphoric acid to clean up the rest of the rust and the coat it.

What do you guys recommend for coating? I was thinking I could just use POR15. or If i get ALL of the rust off then I could powder it.
What about the inside of the pan? its just bare metal at the moment. can I use POR15 on the inside? I obviously dont want anything mixing, or chipping off into the oil.