but not the way it was intended. I'd been putting off installing the IMS Guardian until I had time to drain the oil and drop the pan. While inspecting and cleaning the inside of the pan, what I thought was a string of sealant that had stuck to the bottom, turned out to be a crack! Closer inspection and a real good cleaning of both sides, and it appears the PO or a garage he used, must have jacked up the car or supported the engine during service by the oil pan, as there were a number of radial cracks on the inside of the pan at the oil plug, not visible at all from other side, plus a few others, some with signs of penetration to the other side. The small circular depression where the pump suction tube sits, had a clear crack inside about 2/3s around the circumference, with it barely visible for about 1/3 on the outside. No oil leakage, but heat working and a good drenching in the rain, might have cause catastrophic failure. Since I've done all my own work, have a low rise EZCarlift, and had installed a skid pan (who knows if that may have saved it too!) about a month after I got the car in early '08, I know it didn't happen while I've owned it.

On the plus side, there was not a single tiny piece of anything in the pan or stuck to the magnetic drain plug I had installed 2 years ago, when I installed the spin on filter adapter. I used this as an excuse to buy an X51 oil pan from Sunset, just waiting for it to arrive. Hope everyone that did this extra step, did a good inspection, too!

 

Good deal for you. You even get to do and extra long drain all the old oil out waiting for the pan.

 

Glad you caught it. I need to update my plug with a magnetic one with my next oil and filter change.

 

Where do you source the magnetic drain plugs?....

 

I got mine from L&N when I bought the spin on filter adapter.
Works great and is stronger than the stock plug.

 

Pelican Parts (a Rennlist vendor) has the magnetic drain plug.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...4%29%2C%20Each

I have the Magnetic Drain Plug, Spin-on Filter Adapter, and the X51 oil pan as well.

 

I had a Guardian installed in my car and the oil pan was cracked in my car as well...

There was no visable damage from the outside.

 

Are you sure "the cracks" weren't just casting artifacts?

 

I think it was Pelican.

 

Wild timing, I am also installing the IMS Guardian today - must be the great weather in VA today.
Anyhow, I also found a clean pan and filter
But noticed what seems like stress cracks in the oil pan. some looks like stress from oil pan hitting something and tightening of the drain plug, others seem like not a great casting.
Doesn't look to be a problem - I do not see it leaking or breaking into pieces, unless I hit something with the oil pan - in which old or new would have a problem.
I will probably order a new one and replace at the next oil change.
Her are some pics of it - from iPhone - not great quality:

 

I know mine were. I took it into work where we did a dye penetration. And as I said. I could see the worse cracks on both sides. Mine was much much worse than the one pictured above. I wouldn't worry about those. Like you said, tightening stresses, likely and the drain pan has cast reinforcments around it. Mine went around the pick up indent in the casting and was on both sides, plus another one that I could catch a fingernail on that went 3/4s across the pan, diagonally. For the price of a pan, way too many to take any chances with a trashed engine.

 

If you run your fingers along the 'cracks' you will probably find that the crack lines are raised.These are more likely to be cracks in the die that the casing is manufactured in,with the heat and pressure in a high pressure die the tool starts to form cracks over time and the molten alloy then casts into these,hence the appearence of cracks in the casting.

 

The IMSG is good, but just inspecting the oil filter for metal half way between the oil change interval, (which I assume is 3-5k miles ) is a a great way to monitor IMSB health. Its a half hour job, just remove the filter, look at the outside surface (oil flows from the outside to the inside), no metal, just clean the canister, reinstall the filter and fill the canister with fresh oil. Some say never to reinstall the filter, so go crazy and buy a new filter. There, you're done.

 

I had a cracked oil pan not so long ago...i know it was cracked because it spilled about litres of oil all over the parking lot. I don't remember hitting anything, but I do remember a piece of road under construction which has a manhole that was sitting very high in preparation for paving.

I "upgraded" to the X51 pan - not much more money, and as I understand it no real benefit unless some other mods are made. It did look better made than the stock pan though..no visible casting imperfections.

 

I really wish you would have given this a different title........