I have a 99 Eclipse which is pretty low… I guess while driving I had scraped the oil pan on something but didn’t think anything of it until my car was sitting and i noticed loss of oil. It doesn’t leak when the car is idling, but as soon as the engine is off, i see a thin stream of oil pouring out. My question is, is there anything i can seal the hole with so i do not immediately need to replace the entire pan?
Nothing that will last. Get the pan replaced asap.
Duct tape maybe, but only to get you to a nearby shop. Call ahead to ensure they can get the part.
First find out what’s actually leaking…ASAP. It could be your filter. And, if it’s your pan, it could be the plug…and even if there’s damage to the threads the hole can be tapped out oversize and a new plug installed.
Now, about those lowering springs…
Its definitely the oil pan, becuz like i said, it happened after scraping it. And yes, I’m going to get a new oil pan, but I’m talking about a temporary quick fix becuz of how bad the leak is. To simply even slow the leak would be a drastic improvement. I will get the part from a junk yard anyway, but to slow this leak would be very helpful.
Why spend the time to patch the leak if you are going to replace the oil pan?
Much smarter to spend the same time going to the junkyard to get your replacement.
But if you insist, you might try draining the oil, cleaning the damaged spot with a solvent, getting it dry, and then applying some JB Weld epoxy (auto parts store will have it). The epoxy and the oil you’ll have to replace twice will cost you about as much as the new used oil pan.
Don’t fight it. Get a pal to run you to the junkyard tomorrow so you can fix it once instead of twice.
I agree with WesternRoadtripper and will only add that you really need to keep a close eye on the oil level until it is fixed. This is one of those things that can get away from you very quickly and lead to a trashed engine.
Oil running out onto the exhaust, and especially a catalytic converter, can also be a serious fire hazard.
Get it really clean and use JB Weld
If it’s a small hole you can use a self tapping screw with a faucet washer and it will hold almost forever (a couple years). You can wait a little while to replace the pan or you can coat the head of the screw with fuel tank sealant.
You know, it’s a 99 car. I “fixed” my gasoline tank on a 76 Skyhawk like that.
I have a 2000 S-10 Chevy truck and ran over some junk metal in the road that must have fallen off a load of scrap metal. I didn’t realize it immediately but I was soon seeing oil on the ground where I parked. I checked the level and is was about 1/3 of a quart low which wasn’t a big deal for the engine but I knew something was up.
I was within 1000 miles of an oil change so I kept driving and adding oil until it was time. I was going to have a shop do it and the first one quoted me like $1000 for the job. I thought this was a mistake and called several others but they were all the same. This oil pan on this vehicle is an integral structural component of the engine and is a large piece of cast aluminum. The engine in the truck must be completely removed in order to do this job, so this is why the cost is so high.
So, I decided to drain all the oil and clean off the bottom of the pan. There were several small cracks in the aluminum so I let all the oil drip out for a few days. I then cleaned the area again with brake cleaner and got it spotless. I also sprayed some up through the drain plug area to try and get as much oil away from the cracked area as possible. When there was no more oil after sitting overnight, I decided to proceed.
I used a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to grind grooves along the cracks and roughed up all the flat surfaces nearby with this tool. I had purchased a sheet of aluminum and cut it to size to fit as a patch plate. I also roughed up one side of this. I then applied a liberal amount of JB weld and patched it. I let is cure like 48 hours and then refilled the truck with oil. It has been this way over 2 years and hasn’t leaked a drop.
Now I do have a good used oil pan on hand and plan to install it whenever I need to do a clutch on this vehicle. As long as it doesn’t leak, I don’t plan to do anything until something presses the issue.
If your car is one of the old style steel oil pans that just unbolt from the bottom of the engine, simply replace it. You may have to take a few things off like the exhaust but it won’t be a huge deal.