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with help of reading many wonderful threads, crossmember, MMs, and oil pan are out. with the pan out, is there anything I should be looking for inside the crankcase? everything "looks" good, but I don't have a clue as to what I am looking at and/or what that means. no obvious issues like debris, shavings, or grit. the one visible cylinder looks great. suggestions on what else I might examine or look for before the pan goes pan on?
should I do anything to clean the inside of the pan? I could clean it out, but there is nothing to clean but normal oil film. thinking that might NOT be a great idea? just leave it alone? for the outside, I would like to make it a little more pretty; its already "clean" but is there something I can hit it with to pretty it up? steel wool? wire brush? or again, leave it alone.
and finally, PET shows 25 long bolts, and 5 short. I believe 4 of the shorts go between the block motor mount locations? is that correct, and where does that lone short bolt go?
The bolts... Look at the pan, and see where the lip is thinner for a few holes? Short bolts go in those.
Cleaning... Pretty much everything that comes out of the car gets cleaned to point I can put my sandwich down, and worry more about what stick to the part than what sticks to the sandwich. I think Greg and Rob call this "lickin' clean". As far as brightening the aluminum, mechanical abrasion of the casting with a hard steel brush or "polishing" with steel wool is a no-no around here, where maintaining the original surface quality is at least as important as clean. Use a good detergent to clean the whole thing after you wipe the inside and knock the chunks off the outside. Most commercial engine degreasers are caustic, and while they clean the grease off they also react with the aluminum if left un-rinsed for very long. That starts a dark layer of aluminum hydroxide, a reaction that doesn't stop readily or add that self-protecting aluminum oxide layer that normal air exposure causes. You can use a very mildly acidic cleaner like one of the citrus-based degreasers to try and brighten the metal after all the oil residue and stains are gone. Rob and Greg mentioned using a product with d-limonene to get that final pretty lickin' clean surface on the block and related bits. Perhaps he'll chime in here with the details.
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The local PCA is hosting a clinic tomorrow morning on chassis and undercarriage cleaning for "classic" Porsche owners. I'm looking forward to seeing what the local experts recommend for this task. If there's better info on brightening the aluminum bits under the car I'll bring it right back here.
^^^^easily found that one lone short bolt location. you can see it is under the starter. (lower left recess) ^^^thanks
got the pan near spotless using some purple cleaner, nylon brush, and a mix of 50/50 rubbing alcohol and water to rinse. a few small recesses needed a spritz of brake cleaner and a pick tool. spotless in and out.
is there anything I should look for in viewing the crankshaft, rods, and pistons? pretty sure its: "move along, nothing to see?" big surprise is the tight clearance between the crank weighs and case: WOW!
Unless you want to yank rod caps off (and if you do, use new nuts on them), not really all that much you can see.
And to be honest, a good oil analysis will tell you as much if not more about your bearings than a visual inspection.
It's pretty much a take a good look and see if there's any unusual deposits sort of thing.
You want to take a good look at the bottom of the oil pan. Sediment or 'crud' in there is a sign of problems.
As you already did, rinsing off any cleaner that isn't clearly marked 'aluminum safe' is important.
There is an 'aircraft grade' of Simple Green that is safe. I'm not aware of any others, but I'm sure they are out there.
Unless you want to yank rod caps off (and if you do, use new nuts on them), not really all that much you can see.
And to be honest, a good oil analysis will tell you as much if not more about your bearings than a visual inspection.
It's pretty much a take a good look and see if there's any unusual deposits sort of thing.
You want to take a good look at the bottom of the oil pan. Sediment or 'crud' in there is a sign of problems.
As you already did, rinsing off any cleaner that isn't clearly marked 'aluminum safe' is important.
There is an 'aircraft grade' of Simple Green that is safe. I'm not aware of any others, but I'm sure they are out there.
feel confident that all is good, just wanted to ask. bottom of the pan was extremely clean, so I will take your suggestion and get an oil analysis.
That "purple degreaser" is exactly the caustic (high pH) stuff I warned you about. Read the label where it warns about using it on aluminum.
Do a follow-up wash with some of your favorite powdered laundry detergent, then rinse well with clear water. If you have some good citrus-based detergent/degreaser, use that instead, but still a thorough rinse if you want to avoid the darkening effects of the purple stuff.
A plastic hand-cleaner brush is one of my favorite helpers when cleaning the finned areas. The good news is that it's way easier to keep it clean than it usually is getting it clean.
That "purple degreaser" is exactly the caustic (high pH) stuff I warned you about. Read the label where it warns about using it on aluminum.
Do a follow-up wash with some of your favorite powdered laundry detergent, then rinse well with clear water. If you have some good citrus-based detergent/degreaser, use that instead, but still a thorough rinse if you want to avoid the darkening effects of the purple stuff.
A plastic hand-cleaner brush is one of my favorite helpers when cleaning the finned areas. The good news is that it's way easier to keep it clean than it usually is getting it clean.
thanks for the tip. hope the alcohol/water solution dilutes the purple, but will get a citrus cleaner tomorrow and do it all again. waiting for the oil pick up seal gives me some more time to clean,
although the seal looked very good and pliable, it did have a ridge on one flat side, and prefer to do this job the right way, and hopefully once!
Alcohol does nothing to the caustic. It might help dissolve some grease but its best asset here is helping the water evaporate a little faster. I wouldn't bother. Fwiw.
Laundry and some dishwashing detergents have a lot of the properties we look for when cleaning metal car parts. They include water softeners plus emulsifiers to move the grease around, and some other things like surfactants that promote good rinse efficiency.
Years ago on an '85 I changed out the pan gasket; had to have a real mechanic help with that. He put the pan in a parts cleaner for 0:20 minutes. I don't know what kind of solution it contained, but he did that rather than scrub it by hand in order to ensure a clean surface for the new gasket. YMMV.
I have a heated, ultrasonic parts washer that I keep an aluminum safe degreaser mixture in. PistonKleen is one such cleaner and another that came highly recommended to me is Anchor Atlantic, US2003
Here's the washer with a full set of Cayenne Turbo S brakes in it. You can actually see the junk being freed by the ultrasonic waves and floating away into solution.
If you have the pan out, chances are that the crossmember has been dropped (unless your are Houdini) and you should consider replacing the motor mounts.
If you have the pan out, chances are that the crossmember has been dropped (unless your are Houdini) and you should consider replacing the motor mounts.
Paul removed the cross member primarily to get at the mounts as well as the sump and that activity is covered in another of his threads- the mounts were somewhat mangled.
03-15-2019, 04:41 PM
Oil pan out now what questions?
