when i was jacking up my car to do the control arms last night, the jack slipped off the subframe and hit the bottom of the oil pan. There's a bit of a scrape - but no obvious damage.

The thing that really worries me though is that a bit of oil spurted out when the jack hit the oil pan. After closer inspection - it seems to have spurted out along where the oil pan mates to the bottom of the block. My theory is that the jack warped the relatively thin metal of the oil pan just enough to allow some oil to escape past the gasket.

I checked the torque on the bolts and they're all good - so I'm hoping that I'm fine. Does my theory sound like a good explanation? What else could i have damaged?

Pics?

The sudden increase in pressure might have simply forced some out, and those bolts along the front might be a tad more loose than the others, letting a bit of oil escape.

Pics?

the damage isn't really very visible - it's really just a scratch on the oil pan

I hope your arms/body/self was nowhere near it when it slipped. That's enough to take a few years of your life. :eek:

If I were you I'd just watch my parking spot for a few weeks to monitor any oil loss.

agreeed. you won't know much untill the car is running or untill you keep a watch on the amount it drips. even if the bolts are on the metal inbetween them can warp, just like if you tighten the bolts too much you can cause leeking

I'll be replacing the oil pan gasket sometime next week anyway - so I'll check for warpage then by placing the oil pan on a flat surface. Probably be a good idea to replace some or all of the bolts while I'm at in case they've been stressed too much...

please tell me you weren't using the stock jack

Fellow Seattleite:

I would just replace the gasket and call it good. I wouldn't be suprised if you had blown the existing gasket, but I would be suprised if resealing it didnt do the truck.

please tell me you weren't using the stock jack

ha - no. I haven't even seen it yet. I'm using a 3 and a half ton craftsman floor jack. I know this is kind of a noob mistake - but it was more out of the fact that I was tired and in a hurry than inexperience. This is the first time that this has ever happened to me - and I've been working on cars ever since I got my first POS - an 89 Ford Taurus that I hatefully replaced almost everything on. I guess one jack slip in 10 years is a good ratio - just glad I wasn't anywhere near the bottom of the car - and the wheels were on there.

Fellow Seattleite:

I would just replace the gasket and call it good. I wouldn't be suprised if you had blown the existing gasket, but I would be suprised if resealing it didnt do the truck.

Yeah - just got my new valve cover and oil pan gaskets from Bimmerzone today - fast shipping! So I'll probably just change out the oil pan gasket when I do my oil change.

Took it out and drove it moderately hard for about an hour (not continuously) and nothing seems amiss. I'm trying to decide if this warrants a new oil pan - as it already has a dent from when it was bottomed out by the previous owner! The splash guard and such is missing too...

They're very shallow dents though - and haven't seemed to compromise the structure integrity of the thing - just have to make sure I don't let jacks slip onto it anymore!