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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
Ive got a 97 F350 with Powerstroke. It was a plow /salt truck before I got it last year. Anyways, a couple of days ago I noticed that it was leaving drips in the drive. Today I got under it and thought I had a leaky rear main until I cleaned the pan off. After getting all the grime off the bottom, I see that the oil is just seeping through the pan near the rear edge. I knew the pan was badly rusted but Ive never seen or heard of an oil pan rusting through before. After a cleaned it, it no longer leaves drips, its puddles now. My temporary solution is to smear some high temp RTV on it but I know thats not permanent. Any ideas on this, short of pulling the pan and replacing it? Welding, JBWeld, Sealer???
Probably not many with experience with this but if I need to pull it, how hard of a job is that and how much does a new pan cost?
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
I just wanted to make sure there isnt an easy and economical fix that Im overlooking. I figured it was time for a new pan. I just hope that it doesnt take long for me to find a pan and scrape up some time to do the work because Ive got a couple of jobs for the truck coming up next week and a couple the week after that. I hate paying someone to fix my junk but this may be one of those times when I just have to. I like this diesel but I have to admit that Im mechanically intimidated by it for some reason.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
Ive done some research on it now and I think its time to bite the bullet and brush the cobwebs off the wallet. The info Ive seen so far suggests that the engine must be R&Red to get the pan off. Were not talking loosening a motor mount, were talking removal. 20 flat rate hours for labor plus a couple hundred for the pan, $1400 minimum Id say.
When I first crawled under it, I was worried about it being a rear main leak. Now I wish it was.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
Actually Im not SURE the engine needs to be pulled out. My info is from internet research only. I didnt recognize what the problem was until Friday evening so being the weekend, Im sorta limited right now. Monday will be the day I start talking to people face to face about it and find out what the true scope of my problem is. It does look like a bear of a job. That engine is really wedged in there. Theres, at most, 1/2" clearance between the pan and a huge crossmember under the pan. What Ive been reading is that the engine and tranny need to be seperated, the exhaust needs to be seperated, everything off the top of the engine needs to be pulled off, the engine needs to come completely off the mounts and hoisted up about 6" to 8". All but completely removing it. To top that off, everything under it has a liberal coating of rust, insuring that the job wont go easy.
I always work on my vehicles because I got tires of shop monkeys messing my junk up but Im not sure Im ready to tackle this, mainly because Im anticipating a month long marathon project in patience, grease, beatup knuckles and broken parts. Maybe Im getting old. I think Ill just work some overtime(ouch, that hurt) and pay someone to screw it up for me.
Im not a big fan of temporary fixes but something temporary may be in order until I can get this thing done right so I can keep the truck on the road.
The truck is definately worth fixing. I looked long and hard for it last year until I found exactly what I wanted (except for the rust). Its only got about 58000 miles on it and the only thing wrong with it is the rust coating on the bottom from spreading salt. I figured that down the road a few years the rust may become a problem, this is just sooner than I expected.
I would like to thank everyone for their input.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
Here's the plan. My nextdoor neighbor has a good hunting friend that is a mechanic and specializes in Diesel applications. He is getting a price to R&R the engine (and yes, every indication is that the engine needs to come out, or at least come up. I found a very detailed step by step for whats involved in installing a new pan and it does include pulling the engine).
In the mean time, I've got some JBWeld, some kerosene, a new filter and 14 qts of oil, some fiberglass cloth, a couple of wire brushes, emery cloth, files, some naval jelly, soap & water, primer and some black engine paint.
Am I missing anything besides time?
Whats everyones thoughts on pouring mineral spirits down the filler tube to flush all of the oil out so the holes dry up. Thats what the kerosene is for but mineral spirits wont leave any oily residue as Im trying to keep the last bit from dripping out the rust holes.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
My neighbor got back to me about his mechanic friend. The dealer wants about $1200 plus parts for the job. My neighbor's friend will do it for $600 plus parts. I think thats the route Im going to go but not until fall when things slow down some. Im still going to do the JBWeld thing to get me through the season. Ive got some other stuff made by Loctite called Metal Magic Steel that I got from work. Its more of a putty that you work with your fingers. Ive got the oil drained, the pan all scraped, wire brushed, sanded and cleaned. I got a couple of test areas of the JBWeld and that Metal Magic curing on a scrap piece of metal to see how they setup and work. If I just had a little hole to fill, I think the JBWeld would definately be the way to go but after cleaning the pan off, I can see that the metal is pretty thin along the whole back edge of it. Im thinking the putty may work better to cover the larger area. I was going to use a fiberglass cloth sandwiched between layers of JBWeld covering the bottom of the pan but that now seems like a mess in the making.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
Done.
It took me about two days and $40 (not including an additional $30 for oil and filter).
I tried using the Loctite product but it didnt seem to setup very well for some reason so I scraped it off and smeared some JBWeld about 1/8" thick all over the bottom of the pan, threw the 500 watt lights to it so it would setup good and hard and put some good primer and high temp paint on it.
So far its doing well. Judging from the way the JBWeld went on and the way it setup, It will be on there for some time to come.
If I can stop the further progression of rust, I dont see this repair ever being a problem again.
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7 3 powerstroke oil pan rusted through
The paint on the pan seemed to be fine (except where the rust had taken over). I think it was just a case of years of heavy salt use. Im not sure its strictly a Ford problem, I think it may happen to more Fords, maybe, because more Fords are used for "working" applications where they are subjected to more extreme conditions. Think about how many more Ford utility, dump, plow/salt trucks you see on the road than Chevys and especially Dodges. Thats not a bust on Dodge, I wouldve actually preferred a Dodge but I couldnt find a 4X4 Dodge dump truck anywhere.
I suspect that my next rust related issue will be with the brake lines or hydraulic clutch lines. Theyre looking bad. Im going to start working on that problem before it becomes a problem.
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