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I went to change my oil last night and my oil pan has a huge dent in the bottom. It is not leaking. Should i change it or just wait until i need to take it off?
Personally I would replace it, or at least take it off and try to pound it out.
I dont have any "scientific" reason, just as preventive measure. pounding it out could weaken it and the next hit might tear it. Unsure of the price of a new oil pan, but if you want stock replacement a junk yard piece should do ya since there is no real wear areas to be concerned about.
Changing one out is not terribly difficult. And like Moe said, if it's restricting oil flow to the pickup, well I guess it's a no-brainer. The part is not expensive at all. For what it's worth, I remember years ago having a Crown Vic police car darken my doorstep under the expectation that an engine replacement was going to take place under warranty. As soon as the engine fired up, you could clearly hear the valvetrain clattering away accompanied by some bottom end knock. As soon as I put the car up in the air and noticed a huge dent in the oil pan was when it became clear as day what happened. Needless to say, doing in under warranty clearly never happened and they took it to do at their own garage.