blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

After an accident jacking up my car yesterday afternoon, I now have a dented oil pan. After the obligatory freak-out, I checked for leaks around the pan before starting it for the first time after denting it, and found no oil. I then started it and let it run for 5 minutes or so, listening for any noise, idle issues, or oil pressure fluctuations, then shut it off and checked for leaks around the pan. Nothing out of the ordinary. Third, I took the car off the jack stands, and took it for a 6 mile ride with both light and moderate acceleration. Everything as normal, and no leaks upon my return after getting underneath the car, yet again.

I drove the car about 100 miles this evening and it ran great, as always. I monitored the oil pressure all night and it was normal.

Despite this good news, I am still very wary of two things: 1) I know the OE oil pan is pretty much hollow (non-finned/baffled), but I am still concerned about the possibility that I may have crushed something within, or at least broken a shard of metal off something; 2) I am not sure if I damaged the collector because I don't really know what one looks like, never mind the vicinity of the oil pan it is in (Is it centered? Would a pan inverted in 1-2 cm damage it?)

Here is a picture highlighting the part of the pan I smooshed. NOTE: The oil pan in the picture is intact, and not my car. For what it's worth, the area is slightly smaller than the highlighted portion, not near the drain plug at all, or the immediate edges of the pan, but I thought I'd rather be more general in the illustration than specific. Also, I should mention I checked torque on the bolts holding the pan on, and they were good.

Cliff Notes: If the green box in the picture represents a 1-2 cm deep indent/smash in the oil, is there a chance I damaged the oil collector or any other part located on the bottom of the motor? Even if by "damage" it just means a metal shard floating in the oil now?

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

Thanks for reading my post and for the detailed response.

I'm just wondering if there's anyone who has taken off the stock oil pan and can tell me for a fact where the collector, or anything else that may be located close to the very bottom of the pan, are located. For my piece of mind.

For anyone who has taken pictures of their engine build...a picture with the oil pan off maybe??

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

So I found this pic on G35Driver, which gives me an answer as to what is immediately behind the pan, but I am still not sure how much clearance is between the very bottom edge of the collector and the pan itself.

I should probably just take the thing off next time I am underneath the car and look.

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

You probably did no damage, but I would definately pull the lower pan off just to double check. There is actually one small spot that will become a clearance issue, so the chances of hitting it are slim...but it is possible.

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

[Update] I pulled off the pan last night and the oil collector does not appear to be damaged at all. Thank God. I mean, the mouth of it, right in front of the screen, kind of has < > at either end of the opening, but since they are symmetrical, I am inclined to think that's just how the opening was designed and cut.

Then, I looked up the torque specs on the two bolts attaching it, and tested them with the torque wrench. They were not loose.

Lastly, I checked for clearance between the bottom of the pan and the bottom of the collector. I was going to use some clay and put it on the inside of the pan a few mm thick to see if the collector would leave an imprint when the pan was shut, but before I did that, I figured I would wipe the bottom-most portion of the collector clean, reinstall the pan - which still had a coating maybe a couple mm thick of oil on the inside of it - and see if it would leave a deposit of oil on the end of the collector. Well, it did leave a good amount of oil, which makes me think that I have pretty much no clearance in that spot. I know the collector is supposed to sit low, but I'm not sure if the collector is supposed to actually touch the bottom pan.

So the question remains, and thank God it's only a question about replacing one "easy" part instead of anything major, as to whether I should replace the factory lower oil pan. I am inclined to say yes, because the pan has 2 sharp "dimples" in it where the creases from the damage intersect, and the black paint peeled away not only on the outside, but on the inside. I took my finger nail to the inside paint and it flakes off really easily. I'd be interested in seeing what you think, Sharif, but probably will either get an OE replacement from the dealer or one of the "cheaper" performance ones. Nothing extravagant considering I don't really need any extra capacity since I'm N/A. What do you recommend?