hey guys, i have an oil pan leak and it leaves spots about a foot wide everytime i park, i have to put more oil in it often, i found the pinhole in the pan and was wondering whats the best patch / fix, or where to get a new oil pan ? thanks

 

Cheap & dirty way. If you are sure it a pin hole, drill it out with a 3/16" drill and drive in a short 1/4" self tapping screw dipped in RTV. Stop drilling as soon as you go through the oil pan or you may hit something important.
Otherwise, you can get a new oil pan from the car dealer, or auto parts store. I doubt you are going to find one at a junk yard, unless you are buying the rest of the engine along with it, but it won't hurt to try.

 

If you plan on keeping it, get a new pan ASAP. Otherwise there are some sort of rubber plugs you can drill holes and plug the pan holes with... but do it right and get a new pan -- I got a new oil pan for $89.65 from 1stgmparts.com for my 95 3.4L, and a nwq gasket for about $22 from Advance Auto... Was $225 labor to install -- didn't want to do the job this time... ;-)

 

thanks guys, i was wondering what entials changing a pan on our cars? does the engine need to be lifted ?, when i changed my clutch i noticed that it may be possible to pull the trans, unbolt the oil pan and pull it out toward the rear of the car.. is this possible w/o lifting the engine ? thanks

 

Yes, engine must be lifted a bit and some exhaust disconnected... I decided to pay $220 to have it done... I supplied the new oil pan & gasket separately priced

 

When my pan rusted through, I did a stop gap repair with fiberglass re-enforced body putty until I was able to replace the pan. Everything has to be real clean (oil free) which is almost impossible to achieve.

Pan replacement isn't fun, but can be done by an above average hack mechanic. The exhaust Y-pipe has to come down, along with the starter. And the cross member has to be loosened and lowered on the left side. The coupling on the steering rack has to come off for this. The engine hanger (engine lifting thingy) was easy to make from a 4' - 2 x 4 with 4" blocks on each end (to rest on the shock towers), some nylon rope and an old sissors jack found along the road. It took 2 days to replace my pan with most of the time spent drilling out broken exhaust studs.

If your O2 sensors haven't been replaced in a while, this would be an excellent time to do it. On my '01, the right sensor can't be replaced without dropping the Y-pipe.

 

I had this problem as well, pawned it off on a buddy working in a dealership. Replace the pan, patching is to hit and miss for such a critical piece.