ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Grand Vitara, Vitara, Chevy Tracker (Gen. 2 Platform) 1999-2005 => Topic started by: BoGiggers on August 11, 2010, 05:47:43 AM
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Well I knew when I bought it that it had an oil leak but the buy in was too tempting. It has 215,000 miles on it and it runs and drives like a Swiss watch. I'm actually kind of relieved now that I've figured out where the leak is coming from because there is a back-yard fix for it. The oil pan is rusting through. I researched it and there is the manufacturer recomended way of doing it, the back-yard way of doing it and the REALLY back-yard way of doing it. The manufacturer way of removing the oil pan is to remove the front diff and then take out the pan and pick-up. The back-yard way is of course to pull the engine or lift it as high as you can. This method would be terrible because about all you have is 2 inches from bell housing to firewall. You don't want to forget accessing and removing the pick-up bolts and pick-up in the equasion.
Now for the REALLY back-yard way... and yes it's been done with great results from the research I've done.
1. Spray oven cleaner on underside of hot engine and hose off.
2. Drain oil overnight.
3. Re insert oil plug and clean off scale.
4. Sand and prep oil pan to bare steel in infected areas.
5. Clean pan with spray brake cleaner and clean rags.
6. Mix a couple of tubes of JB weld and apply with a bondo paddle. Apply more than once if necessary.
7. Let cure overnight and spray with epoxy paint.
8. Re-fill with your old oil the next day and drain back out.
9. Re-fill with new oil without replacing oil filter.
10. Drive for a few days and do another oil change with filter replacement.
I'm giving it a shot this weekend. And to the nay-sayers, I gave less than a grand for it and I know where there's a 4 door that was rolled last winter that I can nab for $400 so to me it's worth the risk. Besides, my curiosity won't let me pass up the try!
I've re-built and restored just about every part of a vehicle at one time or another with the exception of stitching up a new interior so why not give it a try?
BoGiggers
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Well the JB weld will not last forever and will be slowly deteriorating. I guess the oil filter will pick all that up as it is happens. I'm with ya man, go for the cheap fix! Good luck.
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Well I got it done. It's been sitting on my paved driveway now for about 5 hours without a single drop. Hope my luck holds out! I'll drive it for the week and re-post how it went. ANYTHING is better than the spot it was making. It was making a complete wet spot of a foot by a foot and a half every eight hours. I had to keep the oil at the low mark to keep the spot to about a foot square.
I was actually confident enough about the fix to put fresh oil in it the first time. I'm kinda glad I did because I ran it a little and it looks like it just came out of the bottle. When you let it drain overnight it ALL comes out.
Sure beats yanking the engine or the front diff...
BoGiggers
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I'd coat it with some rust stopping paint first if the JB will stick to it. ;)
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Still not a drop! Much better than the bio hazard lake that was under it every day. Hey, I stopped buying quarts of oil!
BoGiggers
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Congrats on the backyard, redneck, whitetrash fix. ;) Those are always my first try and favorite way!!!! Glad the bleeding has stopped.
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Yep! Gonna' need paint soon. Thinkin' 'bout white-washing it...
BoGiggers
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white-washing? ??? I thought it was white-worche'n :P
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It is white-washing but I have clothes in my waRsh'in machine right now!! :P
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Guess there's some confusion about the white-warshin so maybe I'll just paint it with a dead possum... :P
BoGiggers
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hey there, i'm in the same situation but can't get my hands on the oil pan! what route did you use to gain access to the pan? come in from the top, bottom, or front? did you not need to remove anything?!
(i realllly don't want to pull this pan...)
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Glad to see I'm not the only one with a very rusty oil pan. A very large rust flake fell off it during my last oil change and what is left of the pan feels like I could poke through it with my finger if I try hard enough. So I'm going to combine installing a new pan with fixing my timing chain rattle. Doesn't look like a fun job.
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What the.....!!!? Now that I read this thread I took a look at my pan.... and its rusting badly too!!!! Double aggravating cause I always wipe the bottom of my pan down and my suspension surfaces with a little oil on a rag during my oil changes! I knocked the rust off, cleaned the surface and rattle can painted it, but I don't know how long that fix will hold. Thanks for making me look at that a little closer.
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If anybody decides to go the replacement route, I just ordered a new pan from gmpartsonline.net for $89. I didn't look too hard, but that was the best price I found after about 20 minutes. I got the gasket for $7 from rock auto along with a bunch of other things.
I was reading the Haynes manual on how to do this job and it looks like you need to drop the axle housing so this would also be a good time to replace the seals for the cv/axles and change out the diff oil. The manual also says you'll need to disconnect the motor mount and raise the motor about an inch so check your motor mount before commencing as well. And finally, you may also have to disconnect the exhaust pipe from the manifold for clearance so you'll want a new gasket on hand for that and probably new nuts for the exhaust manifold studs (mine look very rusty). Ugghhh....this is not going to be fun.
BoGiggers JB weld technique may be better for most, but I had to go in there anyway so i'm throwing some new parts on this thing.
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Still no drips and mine was leaving a sizable spot everywhere I parked it. With the lack of room around that pan it just wasn't an option for me to pull it and replace it. If and when it starts dripping again I'll just repeat the process. If I get 2-3 years out of it without a problem it will definately have been worth the effort!
I ended up scraping up my knuckles pretty good slathering JB weld around the whole pan but I made sure I skim coated all of the rusted areas. It wasn't easy or fun but it's such a great little machine that I wanted to keep it around.
Good luck!
BoGiggers
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Frank84, do you have a 2liter or V6 in your truck?
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Frank84, do you have a 2liter or V6 in your truck?
2Liter