Blew Hole in Oil Pan

[swanny09]

I was driving to a football game today and all of the sudden, there was a BOOM and lots of white smoke. Upon inspection, I discovered a large chuck missing from the oil pan right above the drain plug. Until I can get it looked at, what could have caused it? The car was running perfectly until it happened.

[Breeves002]

I've heard of this happening to other people. Something large hit it?

[JW657]

Originally Posted by swanny09

I was driving to a football game today and all of the sudden, there was a BOOM and lots of white smoke. Upon inspection, I discovered a large chuck missing from the oil pan right above the drain plug. Until I can get it looked at, what could have caused it? The car was running perfectly until it happened.

My guess is that you either hit something or threw a rod.

[behlinla]

Originally Posted by JW657

My guess is that you either hit something or threw a rod.

Yeah, doesn't sound good. I'd be very surprised if a Duratec just failed like that without any other problems. Is it possible the oil was low or the engine was overheating before this happened?

[the_intimidator_02]

If something came off the road and hit it, that would have had to have a lot of force and mass behind it. I'm betting on something coming out of the engine instead. Either way you will have to look into it more to know for sure.

[swanny09]

Originally Posted by behlinla

Yeah, doesn't sound good. I'd be very surprised if a Duratec just failed like that without any other problems. Is it possible the oil was low or the engine was overheating before this happened?

Oil was changed bout 1,000 miles ago and it was not overheating. Car sounded good right before that. We were maybe thinking that it was a chunk of snow or ice that was on the interstate.

[Colt Hero]

I would think you'd have to have a severely-rusted pan for a chunk of ice to breach it (or even a rock). I just removed the oil pan on my '97 yesterday and it's pretty heavy duty.

I don't have the pan in my hands right now, but isn't the section of the pan directly above the drain plug a vertical surface? If so, then it almost *has* to be internal damage (I would think). Maybe with the white smoke you experienced catastrophic gasket failure which sent coolant gushing into the engine cavity, a loss of lubrication, extreme heat, and something went flying downward through the oil pan.

But I'm just guessing here...

[JW657]

Originally Posted by swanny09

Oil was changed bout 1,000 miles ago and it was not overheating. Car sounded good right before that. We were maybe thinking that it was a chunk of snow or ice that was on the interstate.

Did the engine stop by itself or did it continue to run?

Does the car have an aluminum oil pan or steel?

[soundu]

Looking at the stress marks of the metal on the pan, it will be easy to tell
if the trauma came internally from a rod or externally from road debris.

If the pan was pushed up into the motor, its external. If its pushed down
toward the road, its internal.

Your sig says you destroyed one motor already. Could this be some sort
of trend of your driving habits?

bob

[swanny09]

Originally Posted by JW657

Did the engine stop by itself or did it continue to run?

Does the car have an aluminum oil pan or steel?

The engine continued to run for a brief period of time. We were doing 70 on the interstate, nothing aggressive. And I believe its aluminum. And for the other guy who said I have bad driving habits, my last car was lost in a sudden flood. I was lucky to escape.