Little Sister Punched Huge Hole In Oil Pan! - BMW Forum

Supahaole · 12-12-2004, 05:15 PM

ok, what a bad night. my wifes little sister (18yrs) takes out the 87 325es last night, comes home crying at 1:30 am and says she broke the car. long story short; she goes off roading on a dirt road, hits a mean pothole. thinks nothing much of it, even though the oil lights come on and it shows no oil pressure. keeps driving for a while (dosent even stop) and then parks it at her boyfriends house as it starts to stall and puter (about 1.5 miles away)

i looked at it this morning, the hole is as big as a small grapfruit, i can stick my hand in and touch the first 2 rods pretty easily. barley any oil on the ground which means it all dumped a long time ago. hole is at the bottom corner on the front of the pan (the lowest spot almost).

so we are gona make her buy the car or pay to have it fixed. what do you think is fair? i am 80% sure that the bearings and rings are preety messed up, and that just by putting a new pan on will just be a short term band-aid on it.

any of you guys have any experince with a 325es engine running with no oil for about 5-7 mins? any recomendations on the problem. can i change all the bearings with out pulling the motor? what about the rings? think they are shoot also? i am a compatent Mech.

if i need to where can i get a oil pan. not a cast aluminum one either, as this one just shatered in about 5 pices instead of bending or ripping?

dude what a bad day! now me and my wife have to share my little truck.

thanx all for listning to my rant!

Robbie

Supahaole · 12-12-2004, 06:24 PM

check out the hole!

Casey3561 · 12-12-2004, 06:56 PM

Whoa. I'd say she buys. Either fix it and send her the bill, or give it to her and have her replace it. I can understand hitting a pothole, sure, but driving it on no oil pressure? That's just blind incompetence.

BMWJNKY · 12-12-2004, 08:52 PM

You can only get almn. oil pans for the M20's unless you have one custom made.

Supahaole · 12-12-2004, 10:50 PM

so what do you guys think? are my bearings toasted? or are these 325's havy a pretty beaffy bottom end that will take some abuse? what can i do with kepping my engine in?

guywithblack88e30 · 12-12-2004, 11:54 PM

dude that sucks you should go up to her and

but as for bottom end not sure bout these cars but i know once with my 83 240 volvo turbo, my mom drove it to Work and back(about 2 miles both ways) with no oil(cause i couldn't finsh oil change night before) and nothing was wrong with bottom end took it to a kool mechianc he said it was fine he just had to lube up everything in oil (basically a oil bath for the engine) and still runs fine that was about 7 months ago ohhh and her excuse was since she hadn't driven it she didn't know how it acts

gotKRAUT · 12-13-2004, 02:28 AM

the only way to find out...put a new pan on it and dump some oil in...then go from there...chances are you may be ok...this is pretty common but i dont want to get your hopes up...its probably done some permenenat damage but like i said before dump a new pan on and fill er up...

theratdude64 · 12-13-2004, 08:40 AM

holy shit dude, id be out for blood!

ghead

BimmerKris · 12-13-2004, 09:59 AM

die bitch, if it was already spuddering, then chances are it's toast, but the only way to find out for sure is to get a new pan, fill it up and she how it runs. But if you want a failsafe, rebuilt or buy new

at her own cost of course

BLACKBMW · 12-13-2004, 10:29 AM

5 - 7 mins hmmm,

it may not have done too much damage - suck it and see

now you know why teenagers shouldnt be in control of expensive/fast cars - I guess you wont be lending your sis any more cars

J...

Celsdogg · 12-13-2004, 10:35 AM

omigod! that hole is huge! i say never trust her again!

my father in law owned a repair shop for foreign cars. he worked mostly on expensive euros. once, a owner told him that he wanted his audi to break for some reason or another. so they took it out back, drained the oil, started it up, and put a brick on the gas. he said it ran for a long time before it finally busted.

also, he used to have one of the older mercedes diesels, one of the smaller ones, i cant remember which. he used it as a beater car. he told me once that when he was really tired he was driving it, and the oil pump went out. well it drove for awhile, and he was too tired to realize it, but then the car stalled out in the middle of the road, and all the tires locked up and he went skidding. that woke him enough to find out that he had no oil in it. he said he replaced the oil pump, filled er back up, and she ran perfectly fine. he later sold it to someone in good condition.

what i am trying to say is, german cars have great engineering behind them. so i say replace your oil pan, put some oil in her, and fire her up. and dont give her to ure sister in law unless you dont love ure bimmer anymore!

BLACKBMW · 12-13-2004, 10:48 AM

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

agreed

wcleafs · 12-13-2004, 06:01 PM

You know it all went wrong when we gave them the vote!!!

Kidding :nana

TMac325is · 12-13-2004, 06:45 PM

^ oh snap

Nealdavis4 · 12-17-2004, 01:38 AM

I think it's totally fair that you send her the bill for repairs... I put a nice hole in my oil pan that was about 1/8 the size of that one by going over a speed bump way too fast. I was being totally reckless when I did that. To see the size of that hole, I don't even want to know how fast she was going, nor what she hit.

You loaned her the car predicated on trust. You trusted her to take good care of the car, and she didn't. She took it off-road and was obviously driving way too fast.

I am no expert mechanic, but if the engine starts sputtering and dying, it's usually toast. As the guys have said, the only way you will know is to get a new pan, fill it up, and give it a run. Good luck with that... Hope her Daddy has a thick wallet.