Bad Oil Pan on Genset

[Meck]

Hey ya all,

I'm sitting here at a friends dock on Roatan with a oil leaking blankity blank Fischer Panda 8000 Generator. I had to get extremely motivated to rig a lift and pull it out of its little hole to take a look. Of course I was hoping for a lose plug or fitting, but unfortunately the bottom of the pan is rotten, rusted and leaking like a wet sponge.

I think, after a some Advil and stretching routine I should be able to remove the pan. But, then the question is can I fix the pan? A few have said if I can get the pan off, clean it and use JB weld or the specialized metal epoxy's I could seal it and make it work for a few more years??

Does anyone have experience with this type of repair?

Thanks for any help,

Meck

[Philsboat]

I sealed the oilpan on my 82 Buick with black silicone,applied with a plastic glove.Clean it off on the outside and force the silicone through the holes with the glove.Smear it on liberally and let it set.It lasted 2 years.

Phil

[JusDreaming]

I fixed an oil pan using jb weld and aluminum foil. The engine was in the boat, so I squirted the JB on the aluminum foil then pressed on it very hard while being upside down. It worked

[hellosailor]

The typical oil pan is not under pressure, and is not a structural part. It is just a "bucket" sitting under the engine that the oil falls into, and gets sucked out of. So you aren't looking at a heavy-duty repair.

You should be able to take a brownie tin, sheet metal sign, piece of roofing tin, couple of flattened out tin cans, etc. and hammer/clip out a patch that covers the entire bottom of the pan, or the bottom and sides if need be. The only criteria is that if you glue it in place, the "glue" has to be able to resist hot oil for long periods, so it should be "oil proof" or "fuel proof". While you could put the patch on the outside of the pan, I'd recommend dropping the pan (will need a new gasket) and cleaning out any rust and flakes that are in it, the applying the patch from the inside.

JBWeld and other epoxies fit that bill perfectly. Silicone might not hold under constant exposure to oil. A gasketing material that is rated for immersion in hot oil would be ok, or you could probably get a plumbing torch and just solder in the patch.

That's a job for a tinker--literally--but go find a real tinker these days.<G>

[Meck]

Thanks everyone, I pulled the pan, cleaned it up, removed all of the rotten metal, used a little ospho (?) to neutralize the rust and used JB weld. Looks like it should work fine.

Meck