87 300D - oil pan .... uc/< (F)
 

This morning on my way to work as I was apparently speeding past Michael Vick's dog training camp I came across a strange crime scene looking van with blinking lights and some dude standing in in median. As I rounded the curve at 50 or so, I noticed something in the road which turned out to be a very large dead dog. I tried my best to avoid it but my options were to swerve into the van, off the road into a phone poll, sweve and slam on the brakes and let the 290k mile suspension/abs deal me the tarrot card of death, or just straddle the thing and pray to allah. So I opted for the latter. There was a loud crash and I think the old benz went airborne for a moment. I saw the animal exit from the rear directly into the path of an equally unprepared minivan driver who slammed on the brakes so the front air dam was probably 1" off the ground and proceeded to loose half the front end from the bumper south.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2d2e7c.jpg

Needless to say my cast aluminum oil pan did not survive the impact. Its gotta a several large cracks across the front and was pouring out its contents all over moreland ave.

I turned around and brought it home and shut down before it lost too much. The pan looks shot, but i wonder if it can be TIG'd ?

Not what I needed for my friday. Benz store says 6 hrs labor. I saw the part on worldpac, apparently it goes all the way back to trans. This cannot be good.

Whats it take to R/R the pan? Anyone got 1 to sell me? Guess we're not driving it to FL for vacation tomorrow....I think I'll start drinking early.

Geez! That is quite a story. I'd be freaking out, myself.

Can't help you with the oil pan question, but..6 hours labor to swap the pan? That seems like a lot..but there's probably more to it than I think.

If the pan isn't too thin I don't see why it couldn't be TIG welded. You would still have to remove it from the block of course. Poor Dog. Glad you are OK.

Another option is to clean it really well and use fiberglass mesh and resin to patch it. That may seem kind of jury rigged, but I fixed the oil pan on my 79 cutlass that way and it lasted the 7 years I had the car.

yeah i thought about that, or use JB weld on it. I guess I will clean it up and see how bad its cracked. Maybe I can stop drill it slowly/carefully with a shop vac to get the chips and try bonding it. Would save lots of cash, but I take this thing on long trips with the family so I dont want to be stranded anywhere.

If somone has a pan to sell me, pls let me know.

Paul@gruvenparts.com
404-556-6663

OK I drained rest of oil and removed the pass side sump cover so I can now get all the oil out and cleaned up. I will take some higher res pics and get everyones opinion. The crack is nasty, basically 2 cracks, 1 heads east west eminating from the corner, the other goes off under the bottom of pan and ends at the casting parting line. The corner is dented in about .2", the 2 cracks start right at that dent.

Replacing this pan will be a royal PIA. I'd really hate to go this route, there must be over 50 bolts that would need to be removed, some of them are pretty well hidden. Ofcourse it doesnt help me any that I have coolant lines at the back the pan for the veg oil system. They will all need to be removed to gain access. The front sway bar (aka - skid plate bar) will also need to be removed.

What else is involved in lifting the motor up? It looks like it would need to be raised a significant amount to get the pan out.

Total nightmare. I am 1/2 tempted at this point to stop drill the cracks with a 1/4" drill bit, clean out the shavings from the sump access opening, and JB weld the hell out of this thing. Would JB be better than fiberglass ? TIG would be involved, I would have to tow it into my machine shop and Im a bit worried about the pitting TIG welding will cause. Plus its going to be hard to get this 100% clean, there is oil everywhere.

Thoughts ???

It wasn't that big of a crack, but my son hit something with his 84 BMW 325e, cracked the oil pan, and stated a leak. We drained the oil, cleaned the area, roughed it up some, and used JB Weld. Drove the car another 5 years and it was still holding. We did the job with multilple layers, allowing each one to cure, the roughing the area for a new layer of JB - I think that may have been a package recommendation. It won't cost you much to try it.

I can't imagine betting the life of your engine on repairing a freaking oil pan!!!!! :eek:
You need a good used one or a new one, plain and simple, no matter how many folks tell you about fixing theirs. :rolleyes:
Besides, your cracks are long and nasty......

Doing ghetto fixes always results in disaster. Fix it properly with a new/good used pan, that's what I would do. I do not recommend any alternative fixes. The oil pan is very very important!!

I know what its like to run over a big dead animal. I ran over a very LARGE dead deer on the freeway going 70mph in my 300SD a couple years ago at night. I hit it dead on with the passenger side wheels, the car sorta....lifted a foot off the ground or so on that side, then landed back on the road....but kept going in a straight line, little to no swerve. :eek: I was horrified.....even more so when I got home. I thought I smelled it on my way home and I was right, the wheel wells and the side of the car were plastered with rotting guts! EWWWW. :puke: Thankfully no damage aside from needing a major car-washing.

I dont like ghetto fixes either and I know the cracks are big. Its not my 1st choice...but maybe worth a shot if I keep a close eye on the area and oil level light. JB is stronger than the aluminum, we've used it on aircraft engine casings.

Man it will be a pain to remove that pan.

Has anyone taken it out, and can offer some help? Ive read the manual but I wonder how much you can raise the engine with the driveline still attached. It looks like I will need 6" or so!

And yeah, there is dog guts all over the underside. Looks like the steering gear took a major hit too, but that is bulletproof so its unharmed. Plus thats farther back, so whatever the oil pan hit it probably crushed.

I don't recommend patching the oil pan. The 300D that I currently own had an oil pan fix that went bad on a previous owner. Needless to say it no longer has the original engine.
I had a car that I had to keep a paranoid eye on the oil pressure. I think I spent more time watching the gauge then I did the road.:eek: I never had any peace of mind driving that beast.
You need to fix it right so you can have some peace of mind.

Oil Pan
 

a2t,
(Sorry about your loss)
You know GSXR (Dave) has done the OP "St Vitus Dance" on more than one
Diesel Type W124.

In this one he's pulling the Pan to R+R a timing cover on a 603:
http://www.w124performance.com/images/OM603_timing_cover/

I've had the pan off of my m117 engine, and thankfully it was on a stand and upside down. Even then, it was not fun as some of those many bolts were still a pain.

paul,

awe crap, sorry to hear that! i'll go down to the wrecking yard that i usually go to to see if they still have that OM603 that someone turned back. i have no idea if they'll charge alot for removing the oil pan but ill ask anyways..

bob

I'm not going to ask what you were doing on Moreland Ave.

I put a small hole in the oil pan of my 240D once, but that was an easy fix. It's a two part pan and just the lower needed to come off. Easy. It's a sheet steel pan, so it was a no-brainer to weld and put back on. Three years later, no problem.

Now yours appears to be a one-piece and consequently a much bigger PITA to get out. Sorry for your luck.