Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix?

Posted By: FlyFish

Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:07 AM

I was going into rd 4 at the track last night and the starting line crew had me shut the car down due to a leak (thank goodness they were on the ball).

Just like the title said, is there an easy way to fix a crack on an oil pan ( on a weld). It is a Milodon 7 quart low profile pan. I realize that I will more than likely have to pull the motor and replace the pan....but I thought I would ask.

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:15 AM

Drain the pan and weld it back up

Posted By: FlyFish

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:40 AM

Is that possible to do in the car, or would I still have to pull the pan? It's an aluminum pan, so I would have to borrow the equipment to weld aluminum.

Posted By: actionange

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:54 AM

Drain the oil, clean cracked area really good, mix up a batch of JB Weld, apply to crack.
Dries hard and will last forever.
Don't ask me how I know...haha

Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 03:04 AM

had that hapen at a IHRA race once. The weld just slpit while warmng up in the pit.We drained the oil and then used carb cleaner to clean the pab of oil and used duct tape (200 MPH tape) to tape over the split. worked for the whole weekend and never leaked a drop.

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 03:16 AM

Quote:

Is that possible to do in the car, or would I still have to pull the pan? It's an aluminum pan, so I would have to borrow the equipment to weld aluminum.

I've welded mine and a few others on the car.. if
you can get to the crack you can weld it if you know
how to tig.. what I do is pull 1 pan bolt and mount
a grounding tab on that bolt so the ground is right
there, you dont want the ground going into the engine
(like if you were to use something farther away..
it COULD hurt something) but it wont with the ground
on the pan

Posted By: W.I.N. Racing

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 03:59 AM

Quote:

I've welded mine and a few others on the car.. if
you can get to the crack you can weld it if you know
how to tig.. what I do is pull 1 pan bolt and mount
a grounding tab on that bolt so the ground is right
there, you dont want the ground going into the engine
(like if you were to use something farther away..
it COULD hurt something) but it wont with the ground
on the pan

Luck has been on your side...I know of more that one instance where Valve covers/Pans have been ballooned when trying something similar

Pull the pan off the engine and clean the area to be welded and weld it up better safe than sorry

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 04:50 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I've welded mine and a few others on the car.. if
you can get to the crack you can weld it if you know
how to tig.. what I do is pull 1 pan bolt and mount
a grounding tab on that bolt so the ground is right
there, you dont want the ground going into the engine
(like if you were to use something farther away..
it COULD hurt something) but it wont with the ground
on the pan

Luck has been on your side...I know of more that one instance where Valve covers/Pans have been ballooned when trying something similar
Pull the pan off the engine and clean the area to be welded and weld it up better safe than sorry

If your concerned, blow air in the valve cover beather
with a open drain plug... doesnt take much air

Posted By: rebel

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 07:53 AM

Quote:

Drain the oil, clean cracked area really good, mix up a batch of JB Weld, apply to crack.
Dries hard and will last forever.
Don't ask me how I know...haha

after a hell wheelstand we cracked a weld on the pan. JB Weld repair in the pits with a bit of tape over it & it lasted til rebuild time at the end of the season.

Posted By: Leon441

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:35 PM

Tig welding aluminum is fairly simple. Some complex welders are better at cleaning. My welder is just a square wave tig and does not have the wave tuning options. Therefore the inside of the pan needs to be clean also.

Done this before. Drain the oil. If the crack is large enough spray solvent into the crack. Acetone is best. Leave the plug out and remove breathers or even the valve covers so the engine can vent. If everything is clean, easy breazy.

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 02:53 PM

Quote:

Tig welding aluminum is fairly simple. Some complex welders are better at cleaning. My welder is just a square wave tig and does not have the wave tuning options. Therefore the inside of the pan needs to be clean also.

Done this before. Drain the oil. If the crack is large enough spray solvent into the crack. Acetone is best. Leave the plug out and remove breathers or even the valve covers so the engine can vent. If everything is clean, easy breazy.

Welding alum is always about the cleaning of it..
I use sprays to clean the oil(brake cleaner) but on
the surface that will see the bead I hit with a stainless
steel wire brush(has to be stainless)

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 04:07 PM

Take time to read some of these before using brake cleaners and welding. That stuff will kill you.

https://www.google.com/search?q=brake+cl...&channel=sb

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 04:15 PM

Quote:

Take time to read some of these before using brake cleaners and welding. That stuff will kill you.

https://www.google.com/search?q=brake+cl...&channel=sb

If I do use it I do give it plenty of time to purge
it with air flow... being that I worked in the fuel lab
I did a ton of welding on tanks and know all about
the boom(or the lack of it).. in the lab we
had to be super careful... we didnt want to get hurt
or have the feds/state in there

Posted By: Grizzly

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 04:36 PM

Don't have it welded on the car.

Even with the ground clamp as close to the weld as possible I wouldn't take any chances of having an arc finding its' way through your bearings or anything else with close tolerances.

It's just bolts to get it out of there and on a welding table where you can see what you are doing and it can be cleaned/prepped properly. Since it's a weld that failed it's all going to have to be v'd out and done right. An experienced welder should be able to do this for probably 50 to 100 dollars. Something to keep that in mind vs the cost of just buying a new pan.

Posted By: FlyFish

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 05:45 PM

I don't know what I was thinking, the pan is steel, and that I can weld. I'll probably just pull it and weld it. Thanks guys.

Posted By: Triggerfish

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/01/14 05:46 PM

Gotta pull the pan. My Milodon pan hung below the K frame skid plate &
a loose manhole cover split the entire front seam. Was scheduled to race on the flight deck of the Midway the following morning, so luckily,
we found a guy to pull the pan, clean it with carb cleaner & acetone & he welded both seams. Bottomed out the pan on the bumpy freeways a few times after that & the pan held up. Glad I didn't try JB weld as was suggested by a few people!

Attached picture 8257670-Panweld1.jpg

Posted By: Grizzly

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/02/14 03:56 AM

Flyfish, get a good look at the rest of the welds while you have it off. For that weld to have cracked tells me Milodon didn't QA/QC your pan very well.

It will save you pulling it off and doing it again if another sloppy weld gives somewhere else.

Posted By: FlyFish

Re: Oil pan cracked on a weld there any easy fix? - 09/02/14 01:07 PM

Quote:

Flyfish, get a good look at the rest of the welds while you have it off. For that weld to have cracked tells me Milodon didn't QA/QC your pan very well.

It will save you pulling it off and doing it again if another sloppy weld gives somewhere else.

Thanks, I'll definitely check the others while I'm there. I don't think this is a Milodon issue though, I'm pretty sure it is something I did...years ago when I put this pan on my car I had to reshape the passenger side of the pan with a hammer and torch to get proper header clearance. I'm not sure why it decided to fail now (13 years later), but it did.