Oil pan fix, Lazyboy style

[RustySJohnson]

1. Hook up Air compressor to pressurize Crankcase, found leak with soap bubbles. Not to mention oil present.
2. Removed starter and oil pan bolts, cleaned thoroughly with carb and brake cleaner, plus a wire brush. Rubbed silicone sealer on leaking spots.
3. Pull a vacuum on crankcase, sucks silicone sealant right in.
4. Reinstall starter and allow silicone to cure overnight. Test tomorrow.

 

[RustySJohnson]

Day 1, no leaks

It worked.

 

[sport97]

If the silicone ends up coming out use JB weld. Just be sure to really clean the oil off before doing it. Glad your leak is fixed though. I have some rust on mine.

 

[RustySJohnson]

Nagging leak

Well, it came back. Not in the places I touched up, but back none the less. I'm not discouraged, It may take more than one try. I'm going to try again in the morning.

 

[buckwill]

silicone is not real oil friendly,, it will mostly displve somewhatl

 

[RustySJohnson]

Silicon Vs ?

Is there something else the vacuum can pull into the seals? JB weld's an option, not something I think will work well with the vacuum, and if I eventually throw in the towel and do it right, I don't want to be cleaning that stuff off, I'd use it if it wasn't on or near the mating surfaces.

Don't get me wrong, this worked, it did seal the spots I fixed, it's still leaking in other places though. It's leaking much less, and noticeably so. I can touch those up as well, but I'd like to use a better sealer if one's available. Something which will hold up to the oil and that I can apply similar to silicone and suck in with a vacuum.

One thing I despise, is a leaky engine. I'm a stickler when it comes to this. I have continuously kept up the maintenance and fixed all the other oil leaks that pop up over the life of one of these. The oil pan is the only thing leaking, and it just started a couple months ago. In the past 10 years I've owned it, I've repaired pesky leaks the valve covers, and lower intake manifold. I pride myself on this detail, keeps things clean and easier to troubleshoot a leak when it's only coming out of one place.

I appreciate the comments, Sport97, Buckwill.

 

[sport97]

Reason I suggested JB weld is my dad has done it, and he knows people who recommended it to him. It does not suck it into the seals, its more to make a shell over the rusted/leaking areas. But I do see your concern, if it does not work, or you mess it but, its a bit hard to reverse the application of JB weld... It does not like to fuse to oily areas so you would need to make sure that pan is clean before putting it on. My dad basically coated the entire pan in JB weld.

Maybe someone else has a different idea.

 

[corkey]

time spent on this could be consideration time for putting on a new pan,, ,

think of it this way,,
if you mess around under there 3 or 4 times that will be about 5-6 hours of messing around,,
could have put on a new pan in that time,,

 

[sport97]

time spent on this could be consideration time for putting on a new pan,, ,

think of it this way,,
if you mess around under there 3 or 4 times that will be about 5-6 hours of messing around,,
could have put on a new pan in that time,,

That is a good point. It just sucks changing the pan requires a good bit of work.

 

[RustySJohnson]

Definitely realistic.

time spent on this could be consideration time for putting on a new pan,, ,

think of it this way,,
if you mess around under there 3 or 4 times that will be about 5-6 hours of messing around,,
could have put on a new pan in that time,,

Oh yeah, I've been down that road many times before. When you pass the point of benefit of lazyarsing it, add the cost of doing more work trying to get out of work. Chalk it up at as a learning lesson, and put a tourniquet on your futile attempts at patching, which is the most likely scenario honestly.


Fortunately, this attempt fix area of the engine is accessible and easy enough that I only have 30 mins or so in the first attempt. This is kind of a science experiment as well, so I will not be frustrated at a failing result. The starter comes off easy enough and that part's complete (behind the starter). I don't have to jack the truck up, cause it's lifted which gives me easy access.

Long term do i think this will work? Probably not, but It will get me by till I order a quality Ford gasket and do it right.

 

[Tony H]

Fiberglass and resin.

 

[RustySJohnson]

Fiberglass and resin.

Or concrete and straw?