Well, I decided to change my oil today, it has been raining, and the floor was kinda wet, but I didnt think to much of it. I started jacking it up, and my jack has the solid metal wheels on it, I was jacking up, and it slid off to the side and came off, and rested on the "relay rod" and bent my pan in, there is a light contact from the crank while the motor is running... I took a few pics of it to give you guys a better idea... Is there anything I can do, other than pull the motor and replace the pan? Because thats all I can come up with.... I guess its a good thing I get paid soon, and its christmas...





Thanks for any help guys.

-Roshambo

 

As long as it doesn't run bad or sound like something is hitting the crank, I'd let it go, that is if you aren't leaking oil everywhere.

Jeremy

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92 Z conv
5-spd B&M
alston SFC, few mods, some free, some not

 

Remove the steering linkage and have a body shop use a weldable dent puller rod on the oil pan. Once the pan is pulled out then you can cut off the welded rod. If you are unfamiliar with this process then talk to a body shop. They use it to pull dented panels. Just a thought.

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84 Camaro ZZ4 with HOT cam. 1.88 60' (12.98 @ 105MPH E.T.)
Other Mods: You name it and I have probably changed it.

91 Firebird 5.0L TBI

ASE Certified Auto Tech
LIVE AND DIE BY THE ALMIGHTY BOWTIE!

 

Yep, I'm with Jeremy. I've actually been in your shoes. As long as the crank isn't going to pound into the pan, leave it until after christmas. But I gotta admit camaromike has a hell of an idea there. let us know how it goes.

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"It's not about going fast all the time; It's knowing you can, anytime"

 

The crank is hitting the pan, I fired up the car after I got under it and saw the paint flaked off... its not to the point where it wont run, it idles, but as soon as it heard it contacting, I shut it off. Theres no oil leak at all...Its a forged crank, and I dont want to have to go into replacing that as well... I REALLY like camaroMikes idea, is this a costly procedure? I dont want to have to pull the motor, and oil pans arent to cheap... Thanks for the quick responses guys! I appreciate it.

-Roshambo

 

So where were you jacking it up from in the first place? I was just trying to go over what happened in my head and I am assuming for a jack to slide that far it was not on the frame rails. Anyways good thing you did not get hurt. If you do not want to pull the whole motor to replace the pan you can drop the tranny and detach the engine from the mounts and lifting it about 2 inches...all I had to take off is the distributor. I am not even sure you have to remove the tranny, you might just be able to jack the tranny right up against the the body and squeeze the pan out.Would it be possible to hammer the dent out if you pulled the pan? Hmm not going to check the grammar or if this post even makes sense seeing how this is my study break for finals week and I am running of a healthy 3 hours of sleep all week. Well I am sorry that happened, but just be thankful, a lot!!!! worse things have happened with people, cars and jacks.

 

I was jacking it up from the cross member... thats how it happened. I have always jacked up 3rdgens this way, the jack just slipped out when the weight shifted. I think the pan could be hammered out. But if I can used CamaroMikes idea, that would be ideal!

-Roshambo

[This message has been edited by Roshambo (edited December 14, 2000).]

 

Ive had this Happen before, What You want to Do Is Turn It On and let it Run For a Bit, The Crank should Beat the Pan back out such that it is barely Contacting, Then What we Did was get under with a hammer, When the engine is warm, and start Tapping at it from alternate angles, To just push It away from the Crank.

It worked ok, But every once and a while it would Knock, I would look into a new pan eventually



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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Z28 LG4 - Daily Driver
**Mods**
MSD Superconductors - Vaccum Advance Distributor
14" Open Element - Mech Qjet
KYB all around - Smog EQ Mostly Removed.
Best ET as of yet : 3 hours + to Drive To the Nearest Track

 

You can fix it like Mike said. I suggest brazing rather than welding because it wont leak. Sooner than later you need to pull the pan. It is possible the oil pickup was bent up and that needs to be addressed before any damage is done.
Check your alignment...bet its toe'd in about a 1/4"

 

Rambo,

Camaro Mike steered you in the right direction. Here is the REALLY cheap solution:

Go to Autozone or Pep Boys and score a dent puller. Drill 3 small holes in the pan along a line that follows the deepest part of the crease. (Drain the oil first).

Insert small sheet metal screw in dent puller, thread into the middle hole you drilled in the pan, and whack it back out 2/3 of the way. Then go to the sides and pull the dent a little more on the ends. When it's pulled back to some semblance of where it was, seal the 3 holes with 3 small sheet metal screws wrapped in thread sealer and then schmooed with gasket sealer after they're threaded in.

Merf brings up a good point - you probably smacked the oil pump pickup in this accident - and that is dangerous - because unless you've brazed the unit, it may well be loose now.

Pull and replace the pan ASAP, and braze the pickup to the pump tube while you're in there. The noise you're hearing is probably a counterweight hitting the pan, so don't freak too much - just limit your driving until the fix, and for God's sake, watch the oil pressure -

If the pickup was knocked off (unlikely, but possible) you'll have little or no oil pressure. It's also possible that the dent is blocking the oils' pathway to the pickup, which would also cause a drop in oil pressure.

Limit the financial penalty of this mistake by doing a pan replacement ASAP. Good luck.


BOR

 

Hey, just to help you out. You don't even have to go to a body shop to fix it. When I worked for a garage, we used to take a nut and tack weld it to the oil pan, then screw a bolt into the nut and use pliers or a dent puller on the bolt to pull the dent out of the pan. Once you get the dent pulled, you just unscrew the bolt and carefully grind the tack welds off the nut if you want to remove it. We'd use a MIG welder, and had great results fixing them. By the way, if you decide to replace the pan, you don't have to pull the engine out to do it. All you have to do is remove the mount bolts and possible the distributor, and raise the engine a couple of inches. You can use a dead blow hammer to pound the dent out once you remove the pan if you don't want to shell out the cash on a new one.


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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

[This message has been edited by Pat Hall (edited December 15, 2000).]

 

Since the pickup is in the back, and it appears that all the contact was infront, I would think that the pickup should be fine.

 

A Very Keen Observation



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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Z28 LG4 - Daily Driver
**Mods**
MSD Superconductors - Vaccum Advance Distributor
14" Open Element - Mech Qjet
KYB all around - Smog EQ Mostly Removed.
Best ET as of yet : 3 hours + to Drive To the Nearest Track

 

woah, looks like my oil pan! mine isn't dented as far in. It looks like the person who owned the car before me jacked up the car, ON the pan.

I havn't heard any knocking, or anything bad on mine. and though it looks kinda bad, i have yet to have a problem from it.

good luck!

 

This hapened to my car at the body shop. They used the weld type dent puller. I found this is only a temporary fix b/c the force on the pan, while pulling it from the crank, misaligns the top of the pan and it will leak. Mine leaks out the front of the pan. The only god fix would be a new pan.

John Loyd

1985 Z-28 350/5 speed

 

I tell ya what, too, unless that pic is taken at a funny angle, it looks like you bent the center link up towards the pan... hit an alignment shop quick, or you'll be buying new front tires.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

the dent puller idea will work, but two things-

GET A NEW CENTERLINK!!!! its bent! (junkyard and alingment, 75 -100 bucks)

just use a tack weld on dent puller, wont hurt nuthin... just leave a little bump on the outside.

BUY A NEW PAN!

It is almost completely unlikely that the oil pickup was damaged, all the dame to the pan is in the front, not the back where the pick up it, now if this was a 302 or something, then we would be a bit worried! (duh the ford pump is in the front!!)

Steve

 

Yeah, I think the pics make the centerlink look bent, because its straight looking at it under the car, I had already planned on getting an alignment no matter what. Just to make sure anyways... Ive got access to a dent puller, and I like the idea of welding a nut and doing it that way. I do have oil pressure and it reads normal, not to mention the hit was in front, no where near the pickup. Well, hopefully Ill have the time to do this Sunday, or Monday. Thanks for all the help guys!!

-Roshambo