It's a funny thing. Oil pans getting rusty and leaking. One would think that since it holds oil it can't happen; but it does. The reason is that they rust from the outside in not the inside out. So if the pan is subject to corrosive enviroment such as road salt in winter or constructio
n sites and so on it is not a surprise. It also has something to do with the metal car companies are
using today as it happens on passenger cars also. From Toyota's (can you say Tacoma?) to Honda to Ford and GM; they all have their issues. This particular vehicle was a little tricky to replace the pan due to the rust and overall condition at 180,000 miles. The exhaust studs were non descript in shape; there were no threads before or after the nuts that held the pipe on. Once I heated them the nuts did loosen up, turn thigh mileage vehicle it pays to change the pump and pickup. Esphree turns and fell off past the worn studs.
Here is one picture of the old pan and the new.
That is the new pump and pickup tube next to the pan in then picture on the right. Rule #1, when changing a pan on an older ecially on this vehicle; its no easy task to replace the pan; the engine has to be unbolted and lifted up about 6 inches to clear the cross member under the pan. You don't want to have to do this twice.
Here is a shot of the exhaust studs:
As you can see the studs are barely descript in shape due to rust. The trick to removing the front pipe was a little bit of heat, the mechanics prayer and soaking them with penetrant oil (GIBBS Brand; see www.getgibbs.com ) And last here is a shot of where the oil pan has to go stuffed under the engine:
This is from the front of the engine looking back with the old pan remove
d.
Well, that wraps up this little tour. I hope along the way you took notice of all the sludge, varnish and rust in this 14 year old work vehicle. Consider that when you want to know why the repair takes so long or is so involved. As engines and vehicles age these are some of the wear factors that complicate the repairs.
See you on the radio
Ron
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