Oil Sump Cover Dilemma

[86Meesta2]

Just picked up a '99 with an engine that supposedly has 85k (PO put it in 15k ago and it had 70k when installed). Doesn't know the history on when/if anything was replaced, so before I even drive it I have parked it and will be promptly removing the engine to replace whatever I find that needs replacing. Upon draining the oil I notice the passenger side rear of the oil sump appeared to be covered in silicone- or so I thought when I inspected the car. Closer inspection reveals it to likely be JB weld. What occurred in this area I can not imagine, but here is the underlying metal that remains after everything was cleaned off:












Number one: should I remove the remainder of the JB weld from around the circular plug?
Number two: best procedure for refinishing? I can easily have it TIG welded, and milled flat, and I will definitely have some material added to the outside of the sump where the gouges are worst , but would like to hear other opinions.

BTW sump cover is fine, no damage on it.

[BYprodriver]

Probably bottomed out the engine on a speed breaker at sometime, cracking the original sump plate & engine case. I would not remove any material. If needed add material to level the sealing surface. Clean VERY well & use Loctite 5900 to seal the pan.

[Sapientoni]

Welding is the proper repair, and can possibly be done with the engine in the car with the proper prep of the vehicle electronics. That being said, I once repaired a cracked Mercruiser 140 inboard. It is a 4 cylinder (half of a Ford 460 c.i.) with aluminum block that was cracked between a couple of the cylinders. I veed out the crack and JB welded it. I was doing this for the owner who didn't follow advice on how to nurse a leaking heat exhanger. Anyhow, I used the JB and it held to my surprise. I thought the aluminum expansion would crack it again the first time it got to operating temp. The damage you have is probably not a highly stressed area, it's a support area. Put the big bucks into the IMS bearing.
Best of luck to ya'.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Sapientoni

Welding is the proper repair, and can possibly be done with the engine in the car with the proper prep of the vehicle electronics. That being said, I once repaired a cracked Mercruiser 140 inboard. It is a 4 cylinder (half of a Ford 460 c.i.) with aluminum block that was cracked between a couple of the cylinders. I veed out the crack and JB welded it. I was doing this for the owner who didn't follow advice on how to nurse a leaking heat exhanger. Anyhow, I used the JB and it held to my surprise. I thought the aluminum expansion would crack it again the first time it got to operating temp. The damage you have is probably not a highly stressed area, it's a support area. Put the big bucks into the IMS bearing.
Best of luck to ya'.

I would never attempt to weld this up with the engine in the car; you simply cannot get it clean enough and totally free of oil to get a decent weld, and you would need to isolate all of the car's electronic systems before welding.

[steveu812]

To do it right would be to replace the case. Short of that, as a field repair / MacGuyver fix that may be worth a shot...

It looks like you have a contiguous sealing surface along the red line. If that plug is sealed, you may be able to leave bolt "B" out entirely or snug it up after all others are torqued - beinging careful not to distort the pan and put undo squeeze on the redline sealing surface. After that, provided there are no points of entry for debris where that plug is you could leave it like that or fill up that area inside with something solid - just as filler and then slather some silicone around the edge to keep dirt and water out.

Again, this is by no means optimal.

[steveu812]

OK, thanks to those that had the courtesy NOT to flame me on my fix idea.

I had my oil pan off this weekend and there is no mating surface on the pan for the sealant route I marked.