New oilpan: OCI recovery strategy?

fitzski

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Location
Ottawa
TDI
Uh... hmm... Well, none...
So I'd cracked my oilpan in mid-June (see here for more info). The crack was undiagnosed for a couple of days, and I ended up losing about 1 litre before taking action.

I was able to drain the remaining oil and patch the crack while waiting for replacement parts. I re-filled with the drained oil, which was Delvac 1 ESP (less than a week old, including the filter), plus another litre of leftover Elf Excellium DID to make up for what was lost. I've been driving with that setup for about 2000kms until I just changed the pan.

To swap pans, I drained the oil (Pela, and drain plug), dropped the pan, cleaned and prepped the new pan and crankcase, installed with OEM silicone sealant, let it cure for a couple of hours, and again re-filled the drained oil (captured in the Pela), topping up with the Elf as required. Didn't change the filter.

My plan now is to do a ~1000km flushing OCI (Pela from the top side, and the filter reservoir, plus any additional from the drain plug, install new Mann filter and Delvac 1 ESP), and then return to my regularly scheduled programming (UOA every 8k, OCI every 16k or per UOA results).

What do you think? What would you do? Is 1000kms more than necessary to flush the oil of any contaminants introduced by the silicone sealant or from cleaning of the crankcase and oilpan?

My two concerns are contaminants from cleaning (I was careful... but still, it's awkward), and also continuing to use the recycled oil from when the pan first cracked - not sure how it may have held up running at low capacity for a couple of hundred kms before catching the crack.

Thanks.
 

TooSlick

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Location
Dixie
TDI
Audi 100S
I think you're being overly conservative. It will probably take at least 1-2 oil changes for silicone leaching into the oil to stop, but this happens with all new engines & doesn't hurt anything. Running the oil a qt low will have little or no effect on degradation if you only did it for 1000 km.
It would be interesting to look at the pleats in the old oil filter and see if there
is any material from the cracked oil pan. I would not expect to see much if anything.
I'd probably run this oil for 5000 km & then drain it, but I doubt it matters either way....
TS
 

fitzski

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Location
Ottawa
TDI
Uh... hmm... Well, none...
Thanks.
Good points; I'll probably run it longer. Part of me wants to get back to fresh Delvac 1 ESP as soon as possible :eek: ... part of me wants to get some money's worth out of the Delvac 1 ESP that's in the sump now, and was only in there for about a week before the leak. :mad:

I suppose I could do a UOA to quell (or justify...) any concern, but it's a bit of a throw-away from a trending perspective, and tests ain't free...

<sigh>... I think too much...
 
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