I done goofed. Cracked upper oil pan.

So I was running a trail that I normally run all the time, have done it maybe 50 times. But i was going faster than normal and was had more weight than normal. I smashed the front skid on a rock at the bottom of a hill caused from my suspension bottoming out. I didn't think anything of it at the time, just another ding on the skid plat, right? Nope. Woke up next morning to a pool of engine oil on my driveway. After spending 45 mins prying the heavily bend skid plate off, only took me a minute to find this:

So planning on getting it towed to toyota dealership and getting an estimate from them.
What do you guys think, is this a weld fix, and if so, how expensive do you thin it will be?

Or will i need to replace the whole upper oil pan? It look like it's only $180-200, but I imagine labor costs on that would be insane.

Thanks!

 

Bummer man.... Personally I would just buy a new one. It looks like pretty thin metal to start with.

 

That part of the oil pan as you called it is part of the engine. It's the main girdle and requires the whole motor to be pulled to be replaced and torn down quite a bit. Labor time my guess would be at least 10hrs minimum at a dealer up to 18 possibly. The part itself is probably more than $200 and by the pic it looks like there are 2 cracks. This part helps strengthen the engine and has tight tolerances, welding could possibly distort it and make other issues.

Sorry for your truck, but that is a costly crack. Depending on your motors mileage (assuming original motor) another possibility is swapping the motor out. Not sure the cost of a used Taco motor though, but another option. Best of luck to you.

 

I didn't realize our trucks had upper oil pans! For second I thought you cracked the block Is that the differential in the bottom of the picture?

Welding aluminum upside down in a tight spot like that without cooking or warping anything would be damn impressive. There might be some welders out there who would tackle that without removing it, but I have a feeling the dealership will want to replace it...it could be bent or have more damage than what's visible from the outside too. Sorry that happened

If the dealership doesn't leave you broke, I'd suggest looking at a solid skid plate and some Wheelers bump stops for extra insurance. I have a Pelfreybilt 1/4" AL that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend and am about to install the progressive bump stops when I do my front shocks in a couple weeks.

 

This is going to suck big time.

 

@That Dude Tim thanks for the reply. So basically I'm screwed haha. The motor has 144k on it, so not particularly high. I don't think a motor swap would be cost effective unless the repair is several thousand dollars. So I'm looking at around 1k-1500 in labor, plus ~300 for the part. well crap.

 

@billygoat Yeah I was planning on getting either the ARB skids or Bay Area Metal Fab ones. Just didn't get them soon enough. :/

 

http://www.autozone.com/repairguide...mponents/Oil-Pan/_/P-0996b43f802c5595#hd1-1-1

Pretty much this it can be done in the driveway if you have a weekend and tools.

 

That makes it look easy.............................

 

Don't think ARB makes skids for the taco...

 

This may sound a bit silly but... If it's too expensive to replace, clean it really good with carb or brake cleaner and then epoxy it. You might have to grind a bit to open the crack just a bit.

 

Personally I have never used JB Weld but for something like this I might be willing to give it a shot.

 

Was this the stock skid plate (splash guard), or were you running an aftermarket skid plate? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

I have a similar experience but with another car and the pan was metal. I would look at all the options- cost of part and labor, can you find a welder that thinks they can do it (on the vehicle or off), and lastly from first hand experience- a good epoxy can seal that up. I would do the epoxy as last option or a temp fix because your always going to be wondering is the repair still holding. Welding maybe the best bang for the buck. Good luck with it, it will make for a good war story.

 

This is what I was thinking. I way back in "the day", JB welded a cracked RX-7 rotor housing that had a crack in it. I dremeled the crack and area a bit, drained oil out of engine, cleaned with brake cleaner and "glued" it up with JB weld. The "fix" lasted two years until I sold the car. Yes, I did show the "repair" to the new owner, he was a friend.

Point is, if it's not a stress area that may flex or under high pressure, the JB weld fix may work.

 

Does the off-road have an extra factory skid plate over the oil pan? I use to have an off-road and dont remember there being a skid plate there. The sport has the normal front skid plate.

 

I know this isn't the same situation but...

I broke the side of my case on my 450r honda, pretty badly, I just cleaned the area after draining oil, dremelled it out then used some JB weld, then repeated the process again. holds just fine.

 

Even if it did, the thin splash guard, er... skid plate isn't meant to be hit. Mine was bent and I straightened it with a channel lock. I don't understand why anyone would wheel without a good aftermarket IFS skid at a minimum. That $300 skid isn't looking too expensive now, is it?

 

@12TRDTacoma might be able to shed some light on this.