Author Topic: lower oil pan help! (Read 3265 times)

threeoneighteyess · « **on:** December 16, 2009, 08:34:47 AM »

Have owned my 318is coming on four years now, and as first cars go, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Coming on 200,000k's now and a few standard wearing problems are arising; which don't bother me, because that's what one would expect form a car of it's age and mileage. Until a few days ago this was the case...

Needless to say, I misjudged a corner a few nights ago at an intersection, hitting the oil pan on a small traffic island. The motor was left running for about 30 seconds until i realised it wasn't just the wheels that hit, but the sump also. The motor didn't cut out, I switched it off; about 1/3 of the oil had drained out when I cut the motor off. The oil pan only seemed to be leaking from one spot, about a 2 inch gash on the bottom front corner.

Subsequently I have purchased a second hand sump, new gasket, oil+filter. I have read a few posts on here and it seems to be a fairly straight forward job, however I would like to hear some opinions on whether or not their could be any other damage I might have overlooked. Hopefully not!

visionracingdevelopments · « **Reply #1 on:** December 16, 2009, 02:06:58 PM »

Did you notice the oil pressure warning light come on on the dash? If it didn't come on and you stopped the engine in time the engine should be ok (internaly).

The sumps are only aluminium so the bit that broke will have absorbed most of the impact so the rest should be fine. When it's off just make a visual check of all the parts and look for any cracks of fractures in the upper section of the sump on the engine.

The lower sumps are easy to change just undo all the bolts, pop the cracked one off, pop the new one on and fill 'er up with oil.

HTH

inarticulate is · « **Reply #2 on:** December 17, 2009, 05:02:22 AM »

when this happened to me there was a problem with some of the housing threads being stripped by the impact, so used a slightly bigger thread with two new bolts

SoupieMelody · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2009, 07:00:15 AM »

there shouldnt be anymore damage than the oil pan, best thing to do though is to put the new one on, oil her up, run it and listen for noises or any difference in the driving that you never noticed before.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #4 on:** December 17, 2009, 10:45:30 AM »

Sounds good to me. Replace the pan, fill her up & keep on driving. Not too far from home the first 15 minutes or so...

Great cars, aren't they?

threeoneighteyess · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2009, 08:06:56 AM »

I don't own a torque wrench. Is it worth while getting one, or can I get away without one? Also, what torque do the bolts need to be fastened to?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2009, 11:55:07 AM »

Absolutely get a torque wrench. The first bolt you don't crack will pay for the tool. Having said that, I'd just snug those little suckers in there (what are they, M10?). Maybe use a little blue locktite too, except for the inner bolts that hold the upper pan. I'd use red loctite for them. There is a surprising amount of vibration there and the M42 is famous for working out the upper pan bolts.

I've used a cheap Chinese one for 20 years that I bought at Pep Boys for like $25. You can probably find them at Harbor Freight now...tools are so much cheaper now than they used to be.

I needed a big 1/2" ratchet for tough jobs...it was only a few $$ more than the regular kind...thought it'd be disposable, but it's held up. It's a click-style wrench, the beam ones are a little too expensive and clunky for me. I think they're more accurate.

You know what I use it on the most? Lug bolts. I put them all in at about 90ft-lbs with a bit of copper anti-seize, now I don't warp rotors and they're so easy to take back out. I'll even request that my mechanic torque them on. I've had enough of the air tools putting them in at 200 ft-lb.