Oil Pan Leak

Here are the details:

7.3 Ford Powerstroke with a rusty oil pan started seeping a few drops per night. Leak appears to be just above the pan sump on a vertical surface (no visible hole). The dealer cannot get to it for two weeks and the motor must come out to replace pan! An 11 hour, $1600 fix! I need to use it to tow to a National Tour next weekend (bout 250 mi round trip)

Can I:

Say mean things about the oil pan engineer's mom

Drain the pan

Lightly grind/wirewheel the area down to the metal and clean it real well

Apply JB weld expect it to hold?

absolutely

frankly I'm impressed youre draining the pan

Not an easy thing with 4 gallons of oil in the darn thing but I don't want any seeping into the repair till it cures!

On my old E350 with the 7.3 navistar, I had the same problem. Noticed as I was changing the oil right before I left for Road America. No f'n way I was changing the pan on this POS.

Drained the oil, a little carb cleaner & scotch brite pad cleanup, and then spackled the pan with JB weld.

Lasted for years after that. I even forgot about it when I sold it (didnt mention it to the new buyer).

Do it & forget about it.

kendall

Theres gotta be an easier way for the pan swap like supporting the engine from above and dropping the crossmember(s). But the patch sounds good for now.

Mine was pretty easy; undo motor mounts, jack up engine until the tranny is against the tunnel, remove pan with a little creative twisting and turning.

Took me 4 hours laying on my back... and I'm not the quickest mechanic.

You wouldn't be the first, that's why God gave us JB Weld

Do the JB weld and move on. Works great on most applications

You could try brazing it when it is empty. Locate the exact spot by using a spray on powder that is made for this. The last I got was from NAPA. clean it down then use a hot flame and hit just that spot. Of course you need to be able to get a torch in there and it can't be a plastic pan.

For JB weld what do you have to loose?If it doesnt work you havent made it worse .

Well so far no drips in 24 hours. Once I got the raised paint off I found two pinholes in different parts of the pan. After the prerequisite comments about said oil pan engineer and his mother, a good wire brushing/sanding/de-greasing, I applied the JB and let it cure overnight. Added back the new oil and drove around. All is good, lets see how it lasts. Thanks for all the feedback.

Drain oil Hand wire brush and brake cleaner (both inside and out) twice then a final rub down with acetone and let sit 5 minutes while you mix up the JB-Weld.

Been holding my f150 pan over a year pan was cheap at $65 but pull the motor wich meens broken exhust and emision parts...no thanks, a glob of goo works.