Pin Hole in Oil Pan--Epoxy to Fix?

I have the tiniest pin hole leak in the sump area of the oil pan.  Super tiny--but because the car is rarely driven that pin hole makes a good mess on my garage floor. 

How do I solve this problem without welding or getting a new pan?   A pan is super hard to find because the car is a 82 Toyota Starlet.

Is there a good epoxy that I could use?

Thanks

John

I've done it with JB Weld, and it worked, but it was impossible to sell that Jeep with the repair clearly visible.

It could possibly be welded for real - but JB Weld on clean metal would be a pretty good option.

I’ll third JB Weld.  Cleaned up the oil from around the pinhole in one of my Challenge cars, slathered on a bunch of it, and it held fine.  Not sure how long it’ll work, but it wasn’t showing any signs of leaking while I still had the car.

Ive done it with JB weld also.  Car ran for many years afterward with a dented/busted pan.  To keep it looking factory fresh, give it a hit with some satin black when done, then once dry, spray it with WD40 or similar and drive it down a gravel or dusty road, or just drive it for a few hundred miles.  Repair will be indistinguisable.

Rusted oil pans are a very common problem for 7.3 diesels in Superdutys and pulling the pan requires pulling the motor.  So as you would imagine there are several fixes to unberkeleyulate it.  Google search 7.3 rusty oil pan for some DIY instructions and preferred chemicals.

A few tips:  

• Drain the oil first
• Spray the pan down with brake cleaner or similar.
• Let it sit a day and spray it down again.
• Clean at least a 2" circle around the repair area with a wire wheel, then scuff with some aggressive sandpaper like 60 grit.
• Spray down the pan with brake cleaner again.
• Hit it with a propane torch lightly to burn off any contaminants on the surface of the metal.
• Use the long cure JB Weld.
• Undo the oil filler and hook a shop vac up to the oil filler.  This will create a vacuum on the pinhole and will draw JB Weld into the repair.
• Let it cure the full maximum time in optimum conditions.  Don't do this when it is too hot, too cold, too many mosquitos, etc. 

I would strongly suggest reading this before you bring brake cleaner and fire together. Not to spoil the ending, but it's really, really bad.

Could you put a sealing washer and a small sheet metal screw in it?

For that matter, is the pinhole in a place where you can put a second plug?

Embrace the opportunity and use that location for your turbo oil drain. 

I had a puzzling variation to the above, a pinhole leak in a drysump pan. Could drive the car all day long and not one leak (because it was drawing a vacuum). Park the car though and it would slowly leak seemingly out of nowhere on the cast aluminum pan. Took a while to find and used the clean-it-and-JB-weld-it approach. Works fine.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Thank you for posting- wow.  That is terrifying, because it’s a mistake I could have easily seen myself making.

02Pilot said:

I would strongly suggest reading this before you bring brake cleaner and fire together. Not to spoil the ending, but it's really, really bad.

 

Only an issue with clorinated break clean and just burning it while not good is not the problem here. They hit it with a welder and a plasma arc. This molecularly changed the clorinated break cleaner in to the poison gas. Just burning ot does not do this. Anyway just don't use the clorinated stuff and you don't have to worry about any of this.

02Pilot said:

I would strongly suggest reading this before you bring brake cleaner and fire together. Not to spoil the ending, but it's really, really bad.

Wow. I’ve come so close to doing something so similar. I should know better with a chemistry background but sometimes we all shut off parts of our brain in the shop. 

dean1484 said:

02Pilot said:

I would strongly suggest reading this before you bring brake cleaner and fire together. Not to spoil the ending, but it's really, really bad.

 

Only an issue with clorinated break clean and just burning it while not good is not the problem here. They hit it with a welder and a plasma arc. This molecularly changed the clorinated break cleaner in to the poison gas. Just burning ot does not do this. Anyway just don't use the clorinated stuff and you don't have to worry about any of this.

Fair points, but I know I've got both chlorinated and not stuffed into corners of the garage, and I doubt I'd check carefully every time. I also don't know what the threshold temperature is that causes the reaction. I'd rather avoid the possibility of discovering that information on my own and just keep the two things away from each other.

Wow!  Thank you guys for the myriad respnses.Is there a certain JB Weld like product you would recommend?

Regards

John

02Pilot said:

I would strongly suggest reading this before you bring brake cleaner and fire together. Not to spoil the ending, but it's really, really bad.

Good warning, but no argon shielding gas on a propane torch.  

Should I use plain old JB weld or something a little fancier?

Thanks

John

How hard is it to pull the pan?  Since the car is a 1982 it might just be worth the time to pull the pan and check it over, inside and out.

Engine is a fresh rebuild but I do agree,  dropping the pan might be better....especially since the JB Weld didn't work. I was hoping but nothing is ever easy with this car.

Use real JB Weld (no JB Quik), clean clean clean clean, let it fully set up.