Rusted Oil Pan Leak

[ChuckG]

Maybe someone has had experience with this. My current daily driver is a 1994 Chrysler New Yorker 3.5L. Bought it new. Best car I ever owned. And I've owned a lot of cars.

About five weeks ago I started noticing an oil leak under the car. It started getting worse so took it to my mechanic, put it on a lift, and my oil pan is rusted and has a pin hole leak in it. Replacing the oil pan is out of the question because the engine has to be jacked up (could have to remove it) and the car is worth $2000, maybe. I don't even want to think about the cost of this repair.

The mechanic wants to put a fiberglass resin patch on the pan, no guarantees.

Anyone been down this path? Does it work? For how long? I've researched this and can't find a clear answer.

[bwbike]

Drain the oil & grind the area around the rust to remove all traces of paint & rust (and oil).
Carefully put on some J-B weld (thoroughly mixed). Let cure for 24 hours, then re-fill oil.
It's worth a try for 3 bucks.

[Ragamuffin]

Well, this could be a tricky one ! I have had a bit of experience with those fiberglas patches.I used that years ago patching a muffler.I think I vaguely remember using it to patch up a rust quarter panel at the lower end/bottom.I'm also wondering if you might try using some aluminum tape.You know the surface would have to be cleaned real good. I'm also thinking that using the correct/type & size of metal screw. I remember, too, when the oil pan bolt threads were striped [from mechanics using pneumatic/power tools to put the oil bolt on/off] !! A rubber plug was used several times.Those worked most of the time;but remember one time while using the special plastic push tool to stretch the plug for removal it poked through and oil gushed/drained out everywhere !!! Hey, I just thought of another idea...could the oil be drained and a spot weld or braze be made ? That's all I can think of right now !!

[3H4ME]

Originally Posted by ChuckG

Maybe someone has had experience with this. My current daily driver is a 1994 Chrysler New Yorker 3.5L. Bought it new. Best car I ever owned. And I've owned a lot of cars.

About five weeks ago I started noticing an oil leak under the car. It started getting worse so took it to my mechanic, put it on a lift, and my oil pan is rusted and has a pin hole leak in it. Replacing the oil pan is out of the question because the engine has to be jacked up (could have to remove it) and the car is worth $2000, maybe. I don't even want to think about the cost of this repair.

The mechanic wants to put a fiberglass resin patch on the pan, no guarantees.

Anyone been down this path? Does it work? For how long? I've researched this and can't find a clear answer.

The resin patch will last longer than anything else on your car // no guarantees of course, but it has to be done right . Works great !!

[ChuckG]

I'm gonna have this done sometime this coming week. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. If it doesn't work, I'll look at getting it welded like Rag suggested.

Of all the things to possibly kill a car, it never entered my mind. Researching this fix I found that this is not that uncommon of a problem. It can happen on any make and year of car or truck. I read about people whose car was four years old having leaking oil pans.

Many of the people reading about it started doing some preventative maintenance on their vehicles. Most were using POR 15 to coat the pan. For those of you that are keeping their Challengers for years, this may be a good idea.

Yeah, my Chrysler is 14 years old. I have NEVER owned a car this long. NEVER! I want to drive it through the winter. This will give me enough time to work up the nerve to order a Challenger.

Thanks for posting.

[Warrior#7]

I tried a screw with some sealant for plug in my old falcon.. It worked..

[It'sOnOrder]

You might call around to machine shops and/or portable welder guys and see if anyone wants to try and TIG weld the pan on the car. It's a less-ghetto solution than patching, but it's definitely a no-guarantee sorta deal. I did this (arranged the repair- I'm not much of a welder) for a customer once and it actually worked out pretty well.

[Cuda340]

Why not go to your local junk yard and find a replacement pan off another Chrysler?

[billccm]

I don't have much experience with the LH (I am a very long term eek MOPAR owner), but have you investigated the cost of a new pan swap? I believe that can uses an engine cradle mount scheme, and loosening the motor is not too big of a deal.

Having said all that, I myself have many 'tales of the JB WELD fixes', and recommend it as a shot. Drain the pan at night amd clean away as much rust as possible, plug away with the JB WELD, get up the next morning and fill with oil, and see what happens.

Like you, I am driving a Chrysler car I bought new in Oct, 1990, and it still is the best car I have ever owned. I hope my Challenger is a s good.

Good luck to you, Bill

[ChuckG]

Update:

Thursday I'm taking the car in and we're gonna let the oil drain out overnite. Then apple the fix and let it cure for 4-6 hours. The mechanic said I have an 80% chance of it working. I've lost a quart of oil over the past week. Do you think I need to get this fixed?

Instead of using a fiberglass resin, we're going with JB Weld. Should be interesting. I may even post pictures of the procedure if I get there when he's doing it.

This better work. I'm still a few months away from ordering my new Challenger.