Oil Pan "Reseal"

[Kevin Lang]

Members of the fam took their 2002 toyota in for an oil change, and were given some spiel about needing to "reseal the oil pan".



Apparently having a "Bad seal" on the oil pan is not a big deal, so sayeth the mechanics, and can be driven on. That makes me think BS, especially with a 300 dollar estimate to perform this resealing.



I've never heard of such a thing, sounds like something Jiffy Lube would pull. Is it?

 

[Jacob Dryer]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not, but we have a Chevy Venture which has a small leak from the oil pan gasket and we were told it wasn't worth fixing basically. I think mostly due to not being able to repair it without removing quite a few parts to get to it..



So they might be talking it down, is it actually leaking oil?

 

[Bill Barber]

My wife got the same BS from Jiffy lube,manager told her 300 bux,very serious problem.

We do not fix them onsite but my father runs a shop that do's.

Car never leaked a drop of oil.

Called the corporate office,raised holy hell,got the manager fired the next day.:angry:

 

[scott degroot]

KL,



It's not uncommon for the lower oil pan to leak...yes the oil pans are 2 seperate parts on these engines...and "some" leakage isn't really a big deal but leaks don't fix themselves and they always get worse. If any fluid leak, other than coolant or fuel, is just kind of making a "sweat" it doesn't require immediate attention and in alot of cases may be perfectly normal, when the leaks start to form drops or it leaks bad enough to hit the ground then it is time for action. ANY FUEL OR COOANT LEAK REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.



If your Toyota has a lower oil pan (the bottom portion of the 2 piece oil pan) that is leaking be advised that the "book time" to reseal it is very gracious but in reality it really only takes about 30 minutes or so to pull the lower pan off, clean the old sealant off, put new sealant on and reassemble it. When I do this job the vehicle sits overnight with no oil in it so the sealant cures, this is the only way to assure that it doesn't leak again.

 

[Richard L]

I agree with l1tech. If the vehicle is not leaving oil spots on the driveway or garage, it does not require immediate repair, but is worth noting.



If the shop recommended immediate repair, they were only trying to be the first to call it to your attention knowing that it will eventually need to be repaired. I don't necessarily know if the $300 is a fair price for that job, but a lot depends upon the shop...If it was a Toyota dealership, that might be what they typically charge?? Their prices are pretty high. I rarely ever take a vehilce back to the dealer after the warranty has expired.



Don't shoot the messenger...they were only letting you know it was starting to leak, and what they charge to fix it... If it does not develope a bad leak for another year, the repair price may go up to $400 by then...:grin:



...Rich

 

[user 64972]

My Mother had a 1993 Pimp DeVille(all black with fake convertible top and all the gold trim she bought ne in Houston. When Dad died she moved up and always had it serviced at a Caddy dealer. Before 41,000 miles, she had a new master cylinder, re-done air conditioning and was told that she had an oil pan leak that needed taken care of amoung other things. It didn't leak any oil on the ground and didn't use oil so I told her enough with the excessive repairs. I believe they saw an old grey haired widow driving this car and thought they hit the mother loade. This all was way before 41,000 miles because that's what was on it when we did sell it! If you get a good shop they're great but if you get a shifty one you better watch your pocket!

 

[scott degroot]

'07 ST,3/25/2011 15:34 MT



Before 41,000 miles, she had a new master cylinder, re-done air conditioning and was told that she had an oil pan leak that needed taken care of amoung other things.

If that's all this vehicle needed then I would consider it one of the better Cadillacs of that time frame. Up until about 2003-04 Cadillac couldn't make an engine that didn't require major oil leak repairs before 50,000 miles...for some reason they couldn't figure out how to seal an all aluminum engine