Cracked oil pan

[waterbed]

Hi Friends, new to the forum but not new to my FJ-09. I've got a 2017, which I managed to crack the oil pan on while tightening the oil drain plug with a torque wrench that apparently wasn't set right or doesn't work. I see from some googling that oil pan issues are common on this bike and I'm a little unsure about how to proceed, so am hoping y'all can walk me through my options in this situation. In general I would buy the OEM part and swap the thing out after lots of reading and youtube, but it sounds like mods are commonplace as well. Given a choice between the two, I'd probably choose easy over cheap, but I don't want to take it to a shop if special tools aren't required. Thanks for any input or guidance, I look forward to participating in the community.

On a related note, is there any reason not to ride the bike before fixing the crack? It's got a slow drip, but if I make sure it's topped off before the ride will I be hurting anything?

Pics attached.

[whisperquiet]

Oil pan replacement info.  DYI

 

[Butrzrulz]

That's a pretty decent crack, and riding it in this condition is risky.  You'll be heating and cooling that area and creating a stress riser.  Last thing you want is that crack to grow while riding and have a massive oil loss event (also bad news for your rear tire).   If you insist on doing it, throw some JB Weld over it and hope for the best.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Butrzrulz

[Garybinnyc]

That’s unfortunate .: agree with Butz I probably wouldn’t ride until it’s fixed. Def time for a new torque wrench as well! Good luck it shouldn’t be too bad to replace.

[betoney]

4 hours ago, waterbed said:

Hi Friends, new to the forum but not new to my FJ-09. I've got a 2017, which I managed to crack the oil pan on while tightening the oil drain plug with a torque wrench that apparently wasn't set right or doesn't work.

 

34 minutes ago, Garybinnyc said:

Def time for a new torque wrench as well! Good luck it shouldn’t be too bad to replace.

Many of the torque values are well known to be way too high in the owners manual. 

Of course its only my practice but I have never used a torque wrench on a drain plug or filter on any vehicle I have ever owned in over 40+ years, hand tight snug and then just a few degrees more is all I use.  YMMV.

[kilo3]

The mental gymnastics for someone to use a torque wrench on a oil plug then turn around and ask if they should drive with it leaking I find very perplexing.

But yeah, jb weld it up. Actually jb steel or whatever the putty is would probably work better.

[skipperT]

Did you replace the crush washer? Because in your picture it appears to be missing. 

-Skip

[waterbed]

Thanks a million, all. I'll be replacing the oil pan and will post pics and notes when the job is done. I won't be riding it in the meantime

@skipperT Yeah, the crush gasket is in there, just smashed and swallowed by the overtorquing + crack. I never even felt resistance, it happened so quickly and smoothly. 

[peteinpa]

Yeah, no torque wrench, just 3/8ths drive socket, tight till firm then 2 degrees more, that's it.

Hard to explain "feel" been doing it 40 years.

[Butrzrulz]

3 hours ago, peteinpa said:

Yeah, no torque wrench, just 3/8ths drive socket, tight till firm then 2 degrees more, that's it.

Hard to explain "feel" been doing it 40 years.

And of course, after that, you learn the feel of "dang, went too far".  That's when you learn all about rethreading methods, haha!

[fjray]

On 7/4/2021 at 1:27 PM, Butrzrulz said:

And of course, after that, you learn the feel of "dang, went too far".  That's when you learn all about rethreading methods, haha!

Anyone remember Ed Hertfelder?  He wrote the Duct Tapes monthly in Cycle magazine years ago.  His method was, tongue in cheek we hope, " run her in till she strips and then back her off a quarter. "

[DavidS]

On 7/3/2021 at 7:46 PM, kilo3 said:

The mental gymnastics for someone to use a torque wrench on a oil plug then turn around and ask if they should drive with it leaking I find very perplexing.

But yeah, jb weld it up. Actually jb steel or whatever the putty is would probably work better.

Best quote on the forum ever!!! - Kilo3 should win the day!

[sandman900]

[peteinpa]

17 hours ago, sandman900 said:

That's just a smidge too tight.

[waterbed]

Just closing the loop on my original post. I got the new oil pan installed according to @foxtrot722's post, and it went great. Best part: the oil pan comes with the plug pre-installed, so I didn't have to run the risk of repeating my mistake. Moving forward instead of changing the oil the traditional way, I might just swap out the oil pan to avoid touching that plug

I have nothing to add to foxtrot722's notes on oil pan swapping. It went exactly as the post said it would, and the parts list provided was SUPER helpful.

Edit to add: the one thing that foxtrot722 doesn't get into a ton of detail on is re-mounting the headers. I watched some youtube videos on this which were helpful, because it can be fiddly. The #1 tip I took from those videos was to use a bit of grease to hold the 3 header gaskets in place while you shimmy and jiggle everything into place. Having those things falling out while trying to get the headers re-mounted was no fun.

Edited July 17, 2021 by waterbed
Adding detail