Other day I was coming home from Madison and I ran over what I thought was a bag, but ended up being a loud large rock. Didn't think much of it, drove home no issues, no oil pressure loss, etc. Now 3 days later I notice a small stream of oil coming from under my car.

Jack it up, sure enough right where the oil drain fitting is the pan looks like it got a little dinged up. I have had minor scuffs here and there right by that location from speed bumps etc. This was was a bit larger and deformed it a touch on the bottom where I couldn't get a socket around the plug. Nothing crazy, but enough. Noticed it looks like the area around the drain plug is not part of the actual oil pan- it is still metal, but I notice a seam about a cm around the whole plug. It looks like I have a small leak right at the bottom of that seam. I wipe it away and oil slowly starts to fill in the seam again.

Not even going to bother with getting it fixed, just going to get a new oil pan. I know a few others have done this, how is that job?

I noticed that ECS has a steel and aluminum pan- steel is said to be harder. Also found them on ebay around $100, but I am going to stick with someone that knows. Anyone with details on the install would be appreciated.

Wonder if this would have happened if I had my under engine plastic shield on

Just hoping the install not too much of a PITA to do on jack stands. God I need a lift lol

 

replacing the pan was'nt difficult just very messy. Took me about 2 hours since I had never replaced one before. And I highly doubt it would have cracked if you had the belly shield on.

 

Is it a simple process, unbolt all bolts, pull off old pan, apply glue and reinstall?

 

the only maybe kinda hard part is on the drivers side, and its been over a year since I have done this, but let me know if there is anything I can help with - you should have no problems though.

 

You have to scrape the old glue off both the oil pan and the engine block and ensure none of the residue get into the block or it could clog up passages. The other thing to be careful of is that 2 of the 20 bolts you can only access at a slight angle, requiring a 1/4" u-joint. Putting these 2 in (next to the transmission, you have to be REALLY CAREFUL not to cross-thread and thereby strip. I stripped one of mine and lo-and-behold, it's starting to leak slowly after the 2nd day. Mine will keep until the next oil change at which time I'll helicoil, but it's a pain. Everything else wasn't too bad, just messy, and really tiring lying on your back getting all those bolts in.