Rusting Oil Pan

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Jan 14, 2019 | 02:54 PM
  #1  
Hey Guys haven't posted here in a while. Recently when doing an oil change the tech noticed that my oil pan has started showing surfaced rust and should be replaced relatively soon, so that I won't have a hole in the pan. He said it was pretty common amongst our cars, anyone have any similar experience?
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Jan 14, 2019 | 04:54 PM
  #2  
I’ve never seen one rust... there’s an underbody panel which prevents most road debris hitting it and then it’s made from aluminum so I would check for yourself and post a picture I would be shocked if it was rusted
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Jan 14, 2019 | 05:09 PM
  #3  
Pretty sure it is not aluminum but a steel pan, probably could just be cleaned and painted unless it is really bad like something took the finish off many years ago, otherwise it would take a while to rust through. I have a 14, pan looks like new still with nice glossy black paint and I am in Boston, car is driven in the winter.
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Jan 14, 2019 | 05:42 PM
  #4  
Quote:
I’ve never seen one rust... there’s an underbody panel which prevents most road debris hitting it and then it’s made from aluminum so I would check for yourself and post a picture I would be shocked if it was rusted
I've personally seen mine, and while I don't think it is going to rust through as rob said, it does not look like in the best of conditions. I'll take a pic when I replace it next week. Better to be safe than sorry, the pan itself barely costs more than an oil change.
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Jan 14, 2019 | 05:50 PM
  #5  
Cleaned mine (wiped off fine oil mist) on the weekend when looking for the source of a very minor oil drip and it now looks factory brand new. Pan appears to be steel and has a heavy duty black paint. I can't imagine that surface rust will quickly eat through the pan although salted winter roads will certainly speed up the process.

Removal of under body plastic trays is very easy. Remove trays, clean off surface rust and reseal with good anti rust primer and top coat. If on cleaning up the surface rust you note that you have very deep rust pits you could opt to have a new pan installed. The pan itself is very small covering the deep end of the sump - nothing like a traditional full length engine sump that has to deal with front and rear seals etc. The sump pan could be easily changed at home by anyone with basic mechanical skills.
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Jan 15, 2019 | 03:09 PM
  #6  
The oil pan is made of steel, and is black powder coated. So unless the coating has been scraped off, it will not rust. Also that oil pan is covered up by the engine belly pan.
So unless this is damaged then. But it sounds to me, that your tech is trying to extort money out of you, to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
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