@^&!**%*^@ Chrysler

[73k5blazer]

Stupid oil pan rusted out on my 2012 Ram 2500 Cummins, which I bought brand new. Now with 73kmi on it. Really, 5.5years and the pan is rusted through? The last time I had a rusty oil pan was in the 80's on a 60's vehicle, and that pan wasn't painted at all from the factory. WTF is wrong here, this is a failure of not only the coating but had to put on top of really cheap steel, I mean a real steel pan even if bare shouldn't have rusted through in 6 years. And I spray wash the underside of my truck after every winter trip too.
I work at an OEM and so do many of my friends and family. WHen something goes wrong I watch engineers and managers beat up suppliers over 1 part per billion failure. Where's the engineers coming to my house to investigate "odd" failures. Oh yeah, this isn't an odd failure, almost everyone in rustbelt areas has reported rusty oil pans on their cummins for a decade, yet they keep putting these sh!!ty pans on these trucks.

And to top it off, they want $550 for an OEM pan from the stealer. It's a piece of stamped sheet metal for cryin' out loud!!!! There's two china aftermarket makers you can get for around $150, but...they are painted on the inside I noticed and after doing some reaserch I found after a year or two, the paint flakes off on the inside and gums up the whole motor. Real nice. (Skip to about 2:35 to see the power coat flaking off on the inside of the pan)

So I opted for a Stainless steel pan a company called SnoDepot makes. They make pans for many diesel trucks mostly bigger stuff like road commission plow trucks. You can pick it up from various diesel vendors or direct from them but they seem to encourage buying from vendors.

Very robust piece. 304 1/4" plate stainless. Shipping weight was 42lbs. Just what that cummins needs is some more weight.

Wasn't sure that pan was gonna fit, as they list is as fitting '03-7.5 5.9L and 07.5-09 6.7L. Mines a 2012, but the pan number listed from mopar is the same pan number from 07.5-2013 so I figured it would fit, and it does. But it's NO fun swapping pans, have to jack up the motor 5-6" and let the axle drop to full droop to get it in, or jackup up motor and remove transmission. Not a fun job and the pickup tube has to be removed blind and reinstalled blind as it will block pan removal and install, so you have to remove the tube with the pan dropped off the block and let it fall into the pan then you can get the pan out. Whatever's holding up your motor, you better make sure it's robust because if that motor comes down on you while your messing with that tube your gonna lose and arm or some fingers.

The stainless pan isn't cheap @$675 but it came with the gaskets you need for the pan and tube, on top of the oem pan those are another $90 so this pan is really only slightly less than $100 more than an OEM pan at the end of the day. Would have killed me to spend $600 on another crappy oem pan that would rust out in a few years. This pan is a bit of a tighter fit and is a wee bit closer to the crossmember and an axle rin than OEM, but it doesn't hit or rub, I twister her up on an RTI ramp and the axle is well clear of the front corner of the pan well. ANd while it's close to the crossmember under there, it never hits it, I can still get my finger between the pan and crossmember.

With the metallurgy and coating tech they have today, a rusty oil pan is simply criminal.

I first noticed it leaking, oozing really with a small drop on the floor of my barn right before I took a 1000mi trip a few weeks ago. I'm damn lucky it didn't blow out on me while on that trip. When on the lift afterwards I took the blunt end of my ratchet extension and just tap..tap..tap on the rust area and boom...oil started gushing out. I reamed out all the rust with that extension and I got a hole the size of a .50cent piece. Criminal. Just ridiculous.

I guess I shouldn't single out Chrysler, all the OEM's pull these stunts, known problems they just never address. Doesn't make it any less criminal though.

 

[sweetk30]

replaced a lot of mopar trans pans for this back when i was a mech in the shop .

and yes why is this happening these days . . . . to much recycled metal crap .

and i had a problem with a cheepy china pan 1 time on a ford 300-6 . the ends were not shaped correct and did NOT pinch the gasket corners in the block . climbing a steep hill the oil would roll out past the gasket and leak on the ground and exhaust . found the problem and got a ford pan for 10buck less and on the shelf at dealer new .

 

[obijuank5]

They did such a good job on making it not leak it rusted out. If it leaked like a 5.9 you'd be ok.

 

[diesel4me]

The oil pan on my pickup's 6.2 rotted thru 7 years ago--I screwed bolts in the holes to plug them (one I used was a 7/16" flywheel bolt that has the large hex & thin head)..then I slathered a thick coat of "Mar-Glass" fiberglass body filler that is waterproof over the wire brushed and brake cleaned area where the leaks and bolts were...let it harden a day with no oil in the engine..

Next time I started it after filling it with oil,no leaks where I glassed it--but there were more pinholes further back I must have missed,or didn't leak until I used the wire brush to get all the loose rust and crud off..
I "fixed" those by using black RTV,I used my shop vac to create suction in the crankcase by placing the hose over the oil filler pipe and duct taping it on tightly...then applied the RTV while I let the vacuum run for about 15 minutes..

It has barely leaked at all since then..but I don't really trust it either--that bondo could decide to drop off anytime after years of heat/cooling cycles or another spot might rust thru..also the pan is very thin in spots too.

I have 2 good used oil pans now,but haven't been able to lay under the truck long enough to attempt to replace the rotted one,nor can I find or bribe any of my mechanic friends to do the job..cant afford to have a shop do it either really..

I know guys with 7.3 Fords that have this same dilema,and you must lift the cab up to be able to hoist the engine up enough to get the pan off--more than one of them did much like I did,they brake cleaned it good,then sanded or wire brushed it ,cleaned it again,and they used Permatex "Right Stuff" or fiberglass cloth & resin to patch the leaks in the pan...
One just used the shop vac trick without draining the oil,the other guy drained the oil and let it drip a day before patching the pan..the Right Stuff seems to be working best,it was applied thick and it dries pretty firm...the one that used cloth and resin has some spots that didn't adhere and you can see oil pooling up in it..

I think class action lawsuits should be instigated against car makers for using recycled crap to make critical parts like oil pans,backing plates,and a hundred others..they should not be able to get away with selling us junk that rots away in 5 years (or even less,I've seen 2014 trucks with rust issues here already)..

 

[yellowK20]

Or instead of being mad at the manufacturer, you could be mad at the dipshit ****ing politicians and bureaucrats that think it’s a good idea to salt the damn roads .

I have a 2012 ram with almost 90,000 on it we get more snow and ice then just about any other place , my pan looks brand new still .

 

[yellowK20]

It’s dumb that they even make pans from steel anymore anyways , a good composite pan like what a Series 60 Detroit has would be perfect.

 

[diesel4me]

My neighbors new 2018 Ford 4x4 and another guy's truck the same vintage my friend did an oil change on the other day,both have a non metallic oil pan on them--and a plastic drain plug!..
I've seen a few plastic drain plugs melt on radiators on newer vehicles..I'd prefer metal.!.but maybe they figured plastic will strip out before the oil pan threads would ?..I couldn't see well enough to tell if it has a metal bung for the drain plug threads..

I'm not doubting a composite pan would work,seeing they now use plastics for valve covers and intakes on many engines,but I'd want a skid plate under it !..and hope no one tries jacking up the engine off its mounts by the oil pan,like you used to be able too without damage as long as a board was put under it first..

Road salt does eat many things quickly here,but the metal they used on older vehicles was "virgin" and it didn't rot away in 5 years like many of the things on newer vehicles are ..but it is true in places where salt is not used ,things hold up much better--vehicles from VT and NH that only salt mostly interstates have noticeably less rust than those from MA ,which dumps salt by the truckload per mile,or equally nasty "alternatives"..

 

[dangerdog]

No vermont likes to dump salt on all its paved roads too. So don't feel alone.

 

[sweetk30]

salt dont do near as much damage as the liquid brien deicer solutions there putting down . the last 2 -3 winters i seen more rust on my plow truck than it got in 7-8 years from when i built it . and i do not plow for a living . 4-5 driveways when bad and thats it .

 

[diesel4me]

^Ditto...
I was just thinking old age was catching up to my truck,but your right,the amount of damage to things like spring hangers and some areas on the frame have suddenly increased dramatically over the past few years...

I only plow my own driveway now,but used to do a few business parking lots and neighbors driveways,and I had to drive on local highways to get to those lots and gas stations ,that are heavily treated with who knows what...it makes steel turn flaky like pastry crust that peels off in layers..

The undercarriage on my Suburban that has been parked on grass since November of '09 still looks pretty much like when I parked it,the rockers and door bottoms caught hell and are "gone",(mostly due to it being completely buried in 2015-16 under a huge drift that filled the doors and rockers with water)--but the floors underneath and frame rails still look very good...

 

[73k5blazer]

they dump way too much salt on the roads around here. Oh it's gonna snow tomorrow, mabey...better dump some salt down now...
It's ludicrous. They did a study a few years back and said if they continue to dump salt on the roads as they are, the great lakes would become salinated by 2030. I loved in the UP years ago when they just dumped sand down and kept it plowed. Whatever left was a snow/ice/sand mix and was decent traction. But leave it to the stupid laywers, one person doesn't know how to drive and kills somebody or themselves and blames it on the road condition and lawsuits..you didn't salt the road...and this is the result.
That said, there is zero reason for an oil pan to rust out today. Plastic would be a good answer as one posted. Real steel...a good coating..anything. It's criminal today for something as important as an oil pan to have an 1" size rust hole completely thru in 5 or 6 years.

 

[Can Can]

If this happened to a truck I owned I'd be sharing my story on every truck forum I could find. Utter BS. Makes me glad I sold my 2012 Ram........

 

[Scribbles]

Or that I don’t live in that area! We don’t know what salt is down here!

 

[Blue85]

Or instead of being mad at the manufacturer, you could be mad at the dipshit ****ing politicians and bureaucrats that think it’s a good idea to salt the damn roads .

This is what I keep saying. Using our tax dollars to vandalize our vehicles is preposterous. I love the great lakes region, but this is the #1 thing that would make me move.

 

[sweetk30]

5 years or so in the towing world i did i can say most people off road in winter time = bald tires or trusted 4x4 / awd / traction control / abs to much . but as said most were bald tires . yet they always had money for smokes / lotto / drinkys .

 

[mrk5]

Whenever they put the deicer stuff down around I hear, I call it "shitting all over the road". It amazes me all the black crap on the windshield from the splash back. I don't do many snow runs with the crew cab partially because I don't want to drive on the roads with that crap on them.

 

[sweetk30]

Whenever they put the deicer stuff down around I hear, I call it "shitting all over the road". It amazes me all the black crap on the windshield from the splash back. I don't do many snow runs with the crew cab partially because I don't want to drive on the roads with that crap on them.

some states do beat juice . works good from what i hear droping the freezing point lower i think than salt does .

 

[yellowK20]

some states do beat juice . works good from what i hear droping the freezing point lower i think than salt does .

And it’s not corrosive.


Thing is , places with lots more snow and ice , mountain passes etc don’t salt the roads and the accident rates are not any higher.

 

[diesel4me]

The DPW in some towns here have tried molasses and various other salt substitutes,they claim they work good,or better than salt,but how bad they corrode things remains to be seen..

It's mostly due to people that cant drive in snow or ice properly that makes the highway departments dump salt on the roads,often even before a flake of snow falls--people SUE if they crash due to "neglect of the roads"...

If the idiots would slow down,not be lulled into a sense of false security in their 4x4 SUV's,and keep decent treaded tires on them,we wouldn't need anything more than plows and sand,like years ago..and we used studded tires and chains when the roads were icy or we got deep snow..bet nobody knows how to put chains on today..(and they would probably go 65 mph with them on if they did get them on!)..

It is ironic the same people who want salt on the roads ,that washes off into the wooded areas next to the roads and kills trees and just about everything else,and destroys our vehicles,are the same ones who cry about the oceans being full of plastic and seals and whales being killed..

 

[Blue85]

It is ironic the same people who want salt on the roads ,that washes off into the wooded areas next to the roads and kills trees and just about everything else,and destroys our vehicles,are the same ones who cry about the oceans being full of plastic and seals and whales being killed..

I've had the same thought that politically this issue could gain some real traction (pun intended) if it was pitched as an environmental concern. If you gripe about rusty cars, the edge of the lawns being dead, etc. you're seen as a whiner. If you cry to save the planet, save the fishes, people will jump on your socially conscious bandwagon. The drawback could be increased spending instead of reduced if they go the wrong way and just switch to more expensive ice melters.