92 z28

hey, i didnt know where to post this so im posting it here. today was one of those days where if something can go wrong it will go wrong, im surprised i didnt get hit my a bus today. anyway... i was raising my car today with one of those regular jacks. i was raising it under the cross member. it started raining so i was kinda rushing, i had to quickly re-attach my underbody neon kit because the holder things snapped on the way home. anyway while raising the jack i realized it wasnt sitting well under the cross member, i told my friend to run and get the horses incase the car fell, as soon as he got back with the horses the car slipped and what happened was the steering bar thing that goes accross the front of the car hit the jack and the bar went straight up into the oil pan. now luckily it didnt crack the oil pan, but it dented it pretty nicely. when i started the car i heard a grinding noise. what i believe happened is the pan is rubbing against something in there. does anybody know what it might be? and what am i sopposed to do?? i guess my best guess would be removing the oil pan, and having the big dent poped out. is it bad to drive the car the way it is? (dont worry i havent driven it), and if i do have to remove the oil pan how hard is this going to be? its a 92 305 tbi. i really need advice. thanks.

90iroc5spd

you prolly hear the lower rotating assembly (crank and rods)hitting the oil pan!! Dont drive it, and definately dont start it!!!!!
you gotta pull the pan, maybe replace it (i would).

MikeS

As a temporary fix, you could maybe pull the dent out of the oil pan with a slide hammer or something, kind of like in body work. Then you'd have to JB weld the hole you made in the pan. Just a thought, but you'll really want to pull the oil pan and replace it as soon as you get a chance. Sorry to hear the bad news, and good luck. I hope you weren't under the car at the time. You weren't, were you?

kevinc

:lala: ...under car neon lights... :lala:

92 z28

MikeS.. if i was under the car, i dont think i would be able to sit here and type. if i would have seen the car coming down on me i would have probably fall into shock... i guess one of the many things my dad loves to teach me is never get under the car unless the horses are supporting. well, i started the car and had to literaly and drive it accross the street into the other driveway, it was on no longer than 30 seconds. could i have caused damage? thanks

pianiy

iTrader: (2)

Thats your crank hitting it and you've got a BIG problem on your hands. In order to get the pan off you need to jack the engine up several inches. If you're going that route and you've got some money lying around (like we all do) I'd say replace that L03 with something better. That just sucks, I make sure when I'm lifting a 3500 pound car that its not coming down until I want it to, take your time or you'll pay as you've obviously noticed.

MdFormula350

sounds like a big problem!!

a friend of a friend jacked his car up on the oil pan, than went to start the car and boom crank turned alittle and the rod(s) hit the dent and bad things happend!! he cracked his block and a piece of it actually fell on the ground!!

in this case he needed a new engine



but fix the dent and anything else hurt in this accident and see what happens! good luck hopefully you can get the car fixed as cheap as possible and still work like it did before...

92 z28

i spoke to an educated mechanic, and he said that theres a tin baffle pan inside the oil pan, and that the crankshaft is touching the tin pan inside, and not the outer layer of the oil pan. is this true? also, how can you crack the block by damaging the crank? and the dent i caused isnt that bad, im talking about maybe a 1/4" to 1/2".. any other opinions?

Steve

I feel your pain. I actually had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. I have a 91 L98 Z28. After many years of lifting this car to work on it I made a mistake and it slipped off the jack in the same way. Mine hit the center link and bent it right into the oil pan. When i started the car it too had that scrapping sound. I couldn't believe it. Well anyways. I had a U shaped peice of metal welded to the dent and with a big pry bar i pulled the dent out. Then welded the little holes that accidently got made. You can see a dent there, but there is no more scraping. I have put a 1000 + miles since this with no problems so far. I also replaced my center link and idler arm. I had a wheel alignment and my car is back as it was ( mostly ). I do have to say that my steering felt a little different and I may have also bent the pitman arm. Next time i do more steering / suspension work I will replace it. Eventually I will replace that pan, but I really did not want to lift the engine just to swap the oil pan. When I do that a much nicer engine will go in its place. Good luck to you.

Steve

clemsparks

iTrader: (1)

You probably bent your center link as well. You're alignment will most likely be way off...be carefull while you drive it to the alignment shop...after fixing the oil pan

Clem

bob8748

The baffle plate is spot welded to the inside of the pan, when you put the dent in you pushed the baffle up as well. That is hitting your rotating assembly... You dont want to hear this but replace the pan. Had a jack slip when replacing the front tire on my 68 Charger, When the car fell my legs were just barely cleared under the wheel well. Two people down the street when I was younger died putting an exhaust on with a tire jack. "NEVER TRUST A JACK!"
Bob

George

My jack has about a 6 inch saddle on it but I never raise the car by the cross member because the shape of that cross member, on my 83 at least, looks like it would just love slide off there real good.

92 z28

thats what i was worried about by only having the dent pulled. i figured if the dent was pulled on the outside, the baffle inside is still dented. i think i decided im going to have the pan taken off and poped back into place, the same for the baffle. to me it seems like the pan can be dinged back into place not needing a new pan. anyone beg to differ? any opinions?

MikeS

I'm sure that the old pan can be repaired, but I'm not sure if it is worth the trouble after removing it. New oil pans don't cost that much so I would probably replace it with a new one while it was off. It's up to you though, it should work either way.

90RS3.1

Go with a new pan youll be better off. I crunchd mine on a sewer drain plate. dented the hell outta it causeing a leak. I never got that scraping noise though

92 z28

where can i find a new pan for cheap? how much $ am i looking at?

SMOKY21

autozone-for-around-45-bucks

92 z28

get out! if its really $45 im buyin it

Pukka

Now take that money you saved and invest it on some jack stands

92 z28

oh, i have jack stands, my dads got almost all the basic tools i need, i was just in a rush cause it started raining. i have to say, i deffinetly learned my lesson. but thanks for your help guys. i think ill get this under control.

92 z28

hey,, is the oil pan that they sell at autozone for $45 perfectly compatible with our cars? even though its generic??