pcleary1210

Yesterday I took my oil pan to a friend's house to have my LR Baffle tacked in.

Said friend is great with a welder and had everything to properly weld aluminum.

6 or 7 hours after the weld, I'm re-installing the pan. I get just a tiny bit of torque on one of the nuts and I hear a very loud, very distinct POP. Cracked the oil pan between the bolt hole and the outside.

I know die-cast aluminum likes to be heated before being welded, but I've never heard of this happening before.

Was the welding the cause? Something else? Did it maybe already have a small fracture? I don't want this happening to my replacement pan, but need to get the LR baffle in. I suppose I could see if the pan will fit in my oven...

Any advice is welcome
-PC

Paulyy

depends how much weld he put on it. and how he did it.

It's only suppose to be tacked on in each corner.

divil

I knew I heard about this happening to someone else recently...here you go. Exact same issue, but he didn't mention any welding.

michaelmount123

I'll bet you didn't use the torque sequence and tightening steps in the 944 workshop manual. It's important!

pcleary1210

We did the 4 tack welds in each corner, per their diagram w/ the LR baffle.

Also for the torque sequence - that's the funny part. We didn't even start it yet. We were barely snugging them down (finger tight)

Either way, it sounds like a one-off issue and not a routine problem.

My only other question is, then - would you guys find a machine or fab shop to heat it up and tack it in for me? or should I go back to my friend and chock this up to bad luck?

-PC

Auto_Werks 3.6

There was no welding on mine, and I did use the correct torque sequence,... POP!
Did the next pan almost exactly the same way and no trouble.
The only thing about the pan i cracked was that it had the crap hammered out of it from hitting stuff on the ground. I sort of assumed that weakened it. Lart hooked me up with a used pan if you don't have spares.