So im off to a great start. My vortech was uninstalled today to put the car back to stock till i get all my st goodies. The removal went very well, but the i got a call from the installer telling me one of his other installers helping him cracked the upper oil pan at the sending unit. Apparently the manual says bsp? thread not npt?. He says he can use some sort of epoxy or something, and if that does not take, weld it. Im prepared to pay for a new upper oil pan, i think they are about 100.00, if he will do the labour.
Anyone else tried using epoxy, or welding up this?
Also how many hours to re and re the upper oil pan?
Apparently the crack is a hairline, so could you not open up the hole past the crack and use some sort of reducer?

Maybe this is a good excuse to do rods and pistons.

Thanks.

 

you pay installers so that if stuff like this happens, they are responsible for it.

sounds like they made a mistake - i would demand a new replacement part at their cost for parts and labor... if their repair fails, I doubt they'd buy you a new engine...

 

Its cast alu, dont know how well a weld will hold.

 

So he tried to put an NPT sending unit into a BSP, or smth of the sort? If so, then this indicates that your installer is certainly not an A-grade one.

I'd probably be ok with welding it up if oyu don't feel like waiting to et it fixed. You are going to need to pull the engine out of the car to get it R&R'd. The upper oil pan is $126 or so. Make sure you get the one with the baffles (there are two versions).

 

I would not want that "repaired" I would demand a replacement.

 

Well my installer didnt do it, one of his co-workers did. I guess he just assumed it was something simple, I really dont know all the details.

He did the original install and it was top notch, i dont have any lack of confidince in him.

To weld it do they do it on the car or have to remove it. If thats the case i would get a new one.

Can you not drop down the suspension to get at the upper pan instead of pulling the motor?

 

You need to pull the motor. Definetly demand the oil pan be replaced! There is no way to keep that crack from propagating.

JET

 

This was very unexpected, leaving me in a difficult position. I will go there tomorrow and suggest we pull the motor and replace the upper pan. My next question would be should i do eagle rods while its out? Not to sound like a cheap a$$, but for me, if i dont plan on running higher than 10psi, do i really need pistons. Also, if and when i do sell the car, i want to be able to remove the turbo and put it back to stock. Going with low comp. pistons would just hinder me then.

The other option i guess would be stock or close to stock comp. forged piston.

 

you can repalce the upper oil pan without pulling the engine ,4 hours job . we have done it befor .

 

I need info asap for tomorrow morning,
Is that by dropping the front suspension????
Thanks sam.

 

need to support the engine from the top,we have a special fixture to hold the engine while you drop the suspension ,after that , it is very straight forward a lot of room to remove the oil pan.

Sam

GT MOTORSPORTS

 

yes you have - on my car. don't let them "repair" it, i had an oil leak and could not figure out where it was coming from until sam found the upper oil pan was "repaired" by the original installer with a crappy weld job.
replace it, no question.

 

You can replace the oil pan without removing the engine....but I am concerned that these people may not be up to the task.

Do you have a picture of this crack? Minor cracks can easily and safely be welded.

 

This was a problem for the early t-netics kits. The tap was too big for the sender hole and it would actually cause the pan to crack in the same spot. The ball bearing seal would actually fall out. A few guys did the weld job. Others replaced the pan. I think it really depends if the oil pressure tube that is cast in the pan has been broken....this could cause oil pressure problems if it leaks internally.

 

If the upper oil pan is going to be removed while the motor stays in the car.. Replace the stock rod bolts with some ARPS. If the entire motor is getting pulled just build it while its out.

 

I dont have pics, but talking to my installer today, he said he repaired it by welding it up. It was a hairline crack approx 3/16 of an inch.

Im going to drive it now without f/i and see what happens. I do have faith in my installer, just not other lackies.

 

anyone have pics of the inside of an upper oil pan ?

 

Um no it wasn't. There was ONE person who did this. And the General Manager had the Inventory Dept pull and mic every single t adaptor in the inventory and they were correct. BTW Turbonetics replaced that guys upper oil pan for free and payed for the labor.

 

I don't know about that MIA. I just did a G35 kit a few weeks ago and it did start to split before we backed it out and went a little larger on the drill and tap.

 

THe instructions have you run a tap through it before you install the t. Did you do that?