Oil pan leak repair

[brmurph]

I finally found an independent cadillac mechanic that can fix my oil pan/manifold leak (not including half case). He basically said if all goes well he should be able to fix the leak for a little over $1000.00 but if the bolts start striping it could run closer to $2000.00. He said basically if the bolts strip he will have to pull off the 1/2 case anyway and reseal it as well as those are the bolts that strip (best I could understand anyway). Does this make sense? All the time I have been following the cadillac boards I don't remember anyone saying the oil pan leak repairs were so unpredictable?

Thanks in advance.

[KHE]

Those bolts should not strip. If I recall correctly, Some of the oil manifold plate bolts are what retains the lower case - as long as the engine is out of the car, why not re-seal the lower case half as well?

[brmurph]

"Some of the oil manifold plate bolts are what retains the lower case"

Yeah that is what the mechanic is saying and he said there is a resonable chance that they will strip excpecially since the lower case half has already been sealed in its lifetime (in fact we think maybe he did the work years ago at the caddy dealer when he used to work there :-). My reason for not doing the lower case half is because it was already done (although 140,000 miles ago) and isn't leaking, also I was hoping to get this done for just over $1000.00 but he seems to think 1800-2300 is more likely where it will be if things start to strip. He said won't know until he starts putting it back together.

[Cadillac Jim]

Maybe he stripped one himself.

Timesert is a company. They sell inserts for just about all the aluminum threads for a lot of popular car companies, including GM, Honda, Toyota, Porsche, etc. If there are stripped holes, there are Timserts for it.

[KHE]

Those bolts should not strip/pull. The torque spec. is much lower compared to the head bolts.

[brmurph]

Those bolts should not strip/pull. The torque spec. is much lower compared to the head bolts.

OK Thanks, that is kind of what I was thinking. I really like the guy but hard to go ahead with the work when the estimate is from 1100-2300 depending on what he finds. Guess I might wait a little longer.

[barczy01]

2000 and newer Northstars are having an issue where the main bearing bolts break upon removal. I smack them with a hammer upon removal and I usually end up breaking one bolt every other job.

Not only should your bolts not break but it's rare that the bolt holes strip-out. I just repaired a stripped hole in a 01 Seville 3 months ago, just 1 hole. Before that it was 4 years ago. Brmurphy where are you located?

[brmurph]

Thanks barczy01, I am in Austin TX. When you quote a reseal job like this do you feel comfortable you can keep the quote or does it often increase once you get into the project?

[Logan]

I actually rent the Time-Sert and Kent Moore thread repair kits...

http://www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html

For GM aluminum engines...many use a j-42385 kit. Be aware there are about a dozen different 'j-42385-x' versions...100...300...500...2030 etc.

Also, the Kent Moore kits often require 2 or 3 of the tools from other Kent Moore kits to function as designed.

Having the correct kit with all the correct tools is critical.

[barczy01]

Every patient is different. Was the lower bearing case ever resealed in your car under warranty? Did these use impacts to remove and reinstall the main bearing bolts? As these cars are getting older and older I am running into different things from fatigued brake lines to cleaning up someone else's butchery. 98 Deville pretty cut and dry and I was doing these jobs start to finish in 6 hrs at the dealer when I was a younger guy. The trans is easy to r & r out of your car.

[brmurph]

Every patient is different. Was the lower bearing case ever resealed in your car under warranty? Did these use impacts to remove and reinstall the main bearing bolts?

Yes the lower bearing case was redone under warranty at 30,000 miles, not sure if they used impacts or not.

[Cadillac Jim]

I once had a battery post pulled out by a dealer tech, probably by using an air wrench instead of a side-terminal wrench. He just pushed it back in and I caught it a couple of weeks later...