S/V/C S40 oil pan leak - repair or replace?

My father's 2005 S40 T5 is leaking pretty badly from the oil pan from what looks like a poorly done patch of a crack or hole in the pan done by the previous owner. What is the best way to go about this? Try to get the pan welded in place by someone who can do a better job, drop the pan and have it welded or just replace the pan entirely? I'm worried that the lousy job already done is going to complicate matters.

It looks like some online retailers have oil pans for this car for $120, that seems too good to be true. Are they likely to be any good?

I've never dropped an oil pan before, is it hard to do (without the gasket leaking?)

This is what the existing failed weld looks like. It didn't leak when we got the car, but it is dropping quite a bit now a year on.

Do you have money?

Replace it...

That was a hack job repair in the first place... Obviously done with engine in car and oil seeping onto seam.

1) You would be lucky to find a detailed how to for an s40 in my opinion. You might just have to wing it: hoist up the engine, see if you can pull the pan. hard...

2) Other option is drop it off at a welder again and see if they can work their magic. I am almost positive the pans on an s40 are aluminum...pretty easy

3) KB weld after carefullll and long oil drain and then plenty of brake cleaner to remove the oil?

good luck

$400 and change for a new Volvo OE pan is a bit rich for the budget, but some of the aftermarket ones are selling for $130. I'm not sure who did this work. Whoever did this really made a mess of it, I'm thinking at the very least the pan has to be dropped to weld both sides.

I think my plan now is just to drop the thing and take it to a welder with a good rating and see what they say, and if they have any doubts, just get a new one.

I got the car up and I think I can drop it, more time consuming than difficult, though I'm a little intimidated by the need to use liquid gasket.

JB weld seems like a bad idea. I don't live nearby or get here often and my parents aren't mechanically inclined, so it has to last.

Randomletters said:

$400 and change for a new Volvo OE pan is a bit rich for the budget, but some of the aftermarket ones are selling for $130. I'm not sure who did this work. Whoever did this really made a mess of it, I'm thinking at the very least the pan has to be dropped to weld both sides.

I think my plan now is just to drop the thing and take it to a welder with a good rating and see what they say, and if they have any doubts, just get a new one.

I got the car up and I think I can drop it, more time consuming than difficult, though I'm a little intimidated by the need to use liquid gasket.

JB weld seems like a bad idea. I don't live nearby or get here often and my parents aren't mechanically inclined, so it has to last.

Click to expand...

Re. your questions above...

Is a pick-n-pull pan an option? You may be able to find a genuine Volvo one for even less than the $130. And you'd also get the experience of removing it before attacking your father's car.

You'd probably be ok with a repair, but I'd be concerned of the existing pan warping if someone welds it.

Liquid gasket? Do you mean anaerobic gasket maker? Like what's used on the cam cover? If yes, I used it on my 850. It's not awful to work with, but follow the instructions and don't overdue it. Make sure the mating surfaces don't have gaps (like from warping).

I hear ya on fixing the parents car when they're far away. Fix it right the first time.

Dropping the pan isn't a big deal and neither is using the chemical gasket. All you have to do is get a small paint roller from Lowe's and the Volvo gasket maker, lay a thin bead around the perimeter of the pan, and spread it with the roller so that there's even coverage. It doesn't take much. I would just get a used pan off of eBay, that weld is sketchy af. Here's one for $70.

I haven't had to drop the pan in my V50 (and I hope I never have to) but I had to drop the one in my old V70R to replace the seals. The nice thing about the P1 chassis cars is that there's no subframe under the engine to get in the way, but you will have to unbolt the AC compressor from the block to remove the pan (and possibly do some other things that I don't know about ). After that it's just a lot of bolts - keep them organized and use a torque wrench when you reassemble it.

I finally got around to taking the pan off. It looks like a mess inside too, I'm just going to get a new pan.

Thanks for that link, I may end up just grabbing that one.

Should these bolts get thread locker? It looks like there is some white thread locker on some of them but others don't look like it.

Randomletters said:

...

Should these bolts get thread locker? It looks like there is some white thread locker on some of them but others don't look like it.

Click to expand...

That is the anaerobic gasket compound.

I would clean that off with a wire brush before putting everything back together so that you can torque everything correctly. It should come off pretty easily.