Motor Pull...Oil pan removal.

This is one situation where no amount of maintenance could have prevented this from happening (as you could not see it happening, and was nearly undetectable with the naked eye.

Through years of salt-water use, my oil pan developed a leak in early July 08. To keep the boat going, I used some Epoxy putty to patch it, knowing that I would have to replace the oil pan soon. This past weekend, I set out with a friend to get this task or replacing the oil pan accomplished. Here's the link to the photos. http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/7512333_nrWb8/1/485103518_Ry8UN

I have also been posting the progress on the WakeboardNJ.com Riders blog: http://wakeboardnj.com/live.htm

All in all it was not so bad getting the motor out, and we have a plan for getting it back in without to much trouble.

One of the pics reveals the putty and a hole through the oil pan where you can see thru. When we chiseled away the epoxy putty that i used for the repair back in July to drain the oil, it cracked the pan the rest of the way. The spot welds that hold the threads into the oil pan for the drain plug, are most likely the culprit for the initial rusting problem. The OEM oil pan is only coated with paint, and a weak coat at that. And the fact that the original oil pan was not epoxy coated either may have contributed to it as well. The new oil pan from Skidim is coated with epoxy to resist the elements in a much better fashion. For a car this is ok but for a boat, not so much! We also coated the drain plug in marine sealant so no water intrusion can get to any metal parts under the pan.

I am also taking the opportunity to repaint the motor mounts, and replace the motor mount hardware. Mainly the Trunnion studs, washers, nuts and rubber isolaters(they are 8 years old). I am having the shaft checked and will be adding the OJ drippless packing (the PSS system sucked) and will be reworking my ballast tubing and pumps. I'll be sanding down and painting a lot of other items that are easy to get to as well.

I'll continue to update the pics as we progress in the next few weeks.

(Message edited by wakescene on March 04, 2009)