Oil Pan Rusting

[bbohn]

Have a 3126E Cat engine in my 04 Dutch Star. The oil pan is rusting as the paint has flacked off. Should I be concerned? Is it indicative of any kind of problem? Any others with the same situation?

[ernieh]

I've repainted mine several times. I think that the areas that get chipped by rocks rust because the unit sits idle during the winter. Then when a warm most day comes along, the cold soaked engine/oil acts like a glass of ice water.

I clean mine with a wire brush in a drill. Then use Rustolium rust killer and finally the paint from Cat. The Cat paint doesn't require any primer.

[aztortuga]

Had the same thing occur on my 2005 C7. In looking at it, I think the pan was rusted when initially painted. I simply used a wire brush to clean the flaking paint and then used cat paint. No problem since.

[Vegasdan]

Just cleaned mine off and put on a coat of Rustoleum, and the ultimate sacrilege, it was not cat yellow.

[TomTheOilMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegasdan Just cleaned mine off and put on a coat of Rustoleum, and the ultimate sacrilege, it was not cat yellow.

Well, that's next on my list, or I might do the tranny oil. just finished washing the roof, that along took two hours.

[rbeachy]

I coated mine 2 years ago with a brush on application of pickup bed liner material. It's holding up well so far.

[spike45]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbeachy I coated mine 2 years ago with a brush on application of pickup bed liner material. It's holding up well so far.

That will make a great insulator....just what you need to help hold the heat in the oil.

Pan corrosion could also come from driving on snowy roads that have calcium or magnesium chloride as deicing salts. Sodium chloride road salt is bad enough. Calcium and magnesium chloride are exponentially worse.

You could clean the pan of grease and oil and apply 'Rust Mort' available at some auto supply stores. Or you can use concentrated phosphoric acid. Apply a thin coat to the rusty pan. It should then turn dark brown or even black. It will not rust any further. You can paint over the black oxide of iron with any paint. This is done on some antique tractor and car restorations where it is desired not to replace thinned rusty metal.

[Mekanic]

i coated my engine bay and oil pan with this http://designpoly.com/tsb/dp1030tsb.pdf because i am trying to quiet it down quite a bit . it seems to work. i just put it on with a paint brush. at lowes ita about $12 for a half gallon pail.

[FIRE UP]

Gents,
I'm sort of new at this. I posted these pics on another RV forum to see if anyone had the same problem. Well, based on the responces on that forum and reading some on this one, it appears there's been a problem with CAT and their oil pans. Now not all have had this problem but, apparently a very large percentage have. What exactly is the correct solution, well, many of you have done different approaches and some have had good success.

I myself might just take the hard route and maybe drop the pan, get a new gasket, blast the pan with some media blasting compound, most likely sand and then repaint. Has anyone contacted CAT on this to see if they've got an explanation of the poor paint adhesion problems? Has any one done a "Powder coat" coating on it to see if that's more of a life time fix?
Scott

[Lault]

I had to install a new pan on my Cat C7 in a 06 National. It was shot.

[FIRE UP]

Well Gents,
I've been so busy getting other things done, i.e. "Motorcycle lift" etc. on the coach that I've been putting this project off. Well, I had to take a break on my latest project and do some other stuff. I finally got a chance to call on a new pan and gasket for my 330 CAT. Wow, are they proud of that!!!! $391.92 for the pan and, another $40.92 for the gasket.

I certainly don't mind paying for something if needed and it makes for save driving etc but, wow, that's a bit steep in my book. So, I'm going to do an oil change in the next few days and hopefully pull the pan and do some serious restoration on that pan. Hopefully as I'm cleaning,scraping, etc. on that pan, my scraper doesn't go "through" the rusted stuff. I'll have to buy the gasket but, that's OK. I might see about "Flame spraying" it or powder coating it, depends on what those companies say about it. It that's out, some good old Krylon yellow will do the trick.
Scott

[ernieh]

Fireup,

Since you're doing such a nice job on your coach so far, don't ruin it with Krylon. Get the right paint from Cat. It's not expensive, the color will be correct, and you will be happier whenever you are under your coach. It doesn't require a primer, but a good rust killer seems to help. The paint on the pan is not the problem. It's the way they prepped it.

[Chuck 1935]

There is a rust neutralizing primer that will solve your problem without all the expense and work of removing/replacing your pan. The web sites below are a start. Just look it up on the web.

Rust Control ("1" Step Rust Killer and Rust remover)

http://www.amazon.com/One-Step-Conve.../dp/B0009LPJ0Q
http://www.magnetpaints.com/underbody.asp

[Martind4]

A couple of weeks ago I was under our coach and realized the oil pan was getting rusty. I mounted a wire brush in a pneumatic drill and started removing the rust. When I got to a particularly ugly spot and pressed little harder, I struck oil, a nice slow drip.

I drained the oil, cleaned it up as well as I could and sealed the hole with JB Weld (quick), let it sit overnight and refilled the crankcase. It's held well for 2000 miles, but I did order a new oil pan and will replace it when cooler weather arrives.

There's a coolant line running under one end of the oil pan, does that have to be removed or does the pan slide out enough to clear it? Any help from someone that's done it would be appreciated.