I have an oil pan that Sat a number of years and has a pinhole that slowly drips oil. I bought some JB weld to line the bottom while I have the pan off and saw in the barn yesterday ... LEAD ... If I melt the lead and pour it into the heated pan and let it cool ... Will it adhere ? I know that lead was used widely before bondo ... I have never done it before but thought that someone here probably has ... Whadda ya think ?

 

If you can spring for it, I would get a new pan. I just looked your truck up on Autozone, you can get a brand new pan for $65.00-$75.00. If you hunt around online you might get it cheaper than that.

I am not against trying anything to make it seal. But the oil pan is a real pain to mess with after it's in the truck. I would not want to try an experiment with something so difficult to take in and out. If you have a pin hole in one spot, that usually means the surrounding area is very thin.

 

I am kind of with DaveF go new and forget a bout it.
But if you want to try the lead I don't think I would try it on the inside but the out side.
This way if it flakes off you will see it. On the inside you will not and if it breaks in little parts what will it do to the motor?
Dave ----

 

A new pan is probably your best choice as mentioned. But if you are cash strapped and 75 bucks breaks the bank a repair sounds reasonable. If the pin hole was caused by damage to the pan and is a puncture wound I'd choose JB weld over the lead repair. If corrosion is the cause of the hole you're better off cutting out the wife's beer budget for a few months and getting the replacement pan. I would thoroughly clean off any oil around the repair area and apply a nickel sized repair patch on the outside. Thicken the patch in the center over the hole and taper it to the edges. I wouldn't bother using it on the inside of the pan beyond flattening any epoxy that you can push through the pin hole.

 

You can lead it, clean the pan remove all traces of rust and oil flux with muriatic acid or an acid-based flux and lead it up do the inside not the outside. Or you can do both exterior and interior.
No different than auto body leading. It should be a permanent fix. This was a common fix back in the day and I have seen leaded pan repairs that lasted decades.
We have an old industrial flathead Chrysler that was repaired like that some time in the 60's on a Bombardier muskeg and it's still going strong with no leaks. And unlike JB weld it will never separate from the substrate. If you go the JB weld route do it on the exterior, not the interior, as it will be a temp repair and will not last long term due to the expansion and contraction of the pan from heat cycling.

 

Matthew, what kind of alloy lead is used for body leading? I used to gather spilled plumbers lead from construction sites to make fishing weights with. Melted the lead in a castiron skillet and poured it into a two piece cast mold. After cooling open the mold and the sinkers would pretty much pop out. So I was wondering what Flux was needed to make it bond well as in body leading?

There was two kinds of lead back then. The type for sweating copper water pipes and the type for cast waste pipe with bell and spigot. We mixed them together for the fishing weights.

Since the weights popped out of the mold so easily, I wondered about the bond between lead and the pan?

With the JB weld I think that an oil pan would be well within the temperature range for use with regular JB. You do want to prep properly. If it's a puncture pin hole the OP will want to press the epoxy well into the hole and then a small bonding patch should hold well. My package boasts repaired a cracked engine block. I'd recommend a check with JB to make sure if an oil pan is a recommended repair.

 

Another option is to weld the hole shut. Any good welding shop could repair the pan in minutes if you're not skilled and equipped yourself.

 

You can use either 70/30 70%PB/30%SN or 60/40 60%PB/40%SN many of the old-timers prefer 60/40 as it is about 25% harder and easier to get a nice finish, I prefer the 60/40 myself also.

As for flux there is always body butter (Tinning paste) of course the old stand by's muriatic acid (difficult to use), and the most common old school flux (back to antiquity old school) aqueous zinc chloride AKA killed spirits. You can always use rosin if the surface is super clean and you have good heat control, and of course, any of the commercial acid fluxes (many of which are just killed spirits) For steel killed sprits is second only to body butter. But you can easily make your own killed spirits body butter not so much

To make killed spirits mostly fill a mason jar (or other non-metal receptacle) with muriatic acid and throw a handful of galvanized roofing nails in it. When the bubbling from the nails stops drop one more nail and see if it bubbles it does no then it is done, if it does bubble then pour the liquid off into another mason jar and throw another hand full of galvanized nails in it. Keep doing this till the nails stop bubbling. When the bubbling stops you have your very own aqueous zinc chloride/killed spirits flux. Of course, you are working with acid so use appropriate PPE and precautions when doing this.

To use the killed spirits. Use a bristle brush to brush the cleaned and prepped area to be soldered with the killed sprirts, heat and brush with the flux occasionally till the substrate is hot enough to melt the solder/lead. Work the solder into the area to be soldered. There should be no balling but the solder should wick to the metal. When done repairing the area wash the area down with a baking soda water mix to neutralize any leftover acids. Yes more work than epoxy but if done correctly the repair will outlast the vehicle and the epoxy repair 100 to 1.

There are lots of how to videos on the web on how to solder steel and body leading.

As for the bond with the oil pan it would be no less than what is seen with body leading, or copper/brass soldering. In fact it will be better than it is with any epoxy as with soldering it is a metallurgical bond and solders have an elongation of about 30% before failure when cold and higher when heated, epoxies tend to have very low elongation properties and will usually over time shear off from the substrate if exposed to expansion and contraction due to heat cycling. Solders will over time also suffer fatigue failure from heat cycling if an inadequate amount is used.
One other advantage of soldered/leaded repairs on steel and iron is, they act as anodes and help mitigate corrosion of the surrounding area.
But as with any soldering job it is all about the prep the better the substrate is prepped the better the bond and the easier the soldering will be.

And of course, there is always the silver solder option for the repair.....

 

I see there is quite a bit of knowledge needed to do a good lead repair. I was wondering what kind of lead the OP had on hand and if he was capable of the prep and acid flux work. I know there are many types of lead alloys and some won't work for a pan repair. The OP should take note of your post and experience with body leading and ensure that he has or can obtain the proper materials.

 

Interesting thread, with lots of repair options. However, I strongly suggest stepping back, taking a deep breath, and looking at the risk-to-reward ratio. The oil pan is already off. If it's got one pinhole from corrosion, there are likely other spots patiently waiting their turn to turn your truck into a British car.

In theory, you could line the interior with lead, but it sounds like there is a steep learning curve for proper application. Is it worth the risk a few months down the road to pull the pan (a miserable job) for replacement? A repair attempt might be appropriate for an unobtainable part, such as on a 1948 Tucker. But on a garden variety Ford, with a quality replacement readily available?

Can I just send you the money for a new pan? You okay with a post-dated third-party out-of-state check written in foreign funds?

 

A new pan is definitely recommended here. But I have been broke before and needed to repair before replace. Even 75 bucks was un doable. If strapped I'd go with first a weld repair and second choice would be JB weld. But if corrosion is the cause a new pan is best.

 

Any of the lead alloys would work you do not need specific alloy for this application as it not being finished. Heck you could use whatever roll of plumbing/electrical solder you have kicking around for this.
And it is no different than soldering wires together exactly the same principle if you have done that you can do this. The only acquired skill is heat control of the area to be leaded you don't want to overheat the base metal and burn the lead/solder or apply to little heat not have a proper bond to the base metal.
The biggest thing people screw up soldering is material prep and applying too little or too much heat.

The ideal thing is to replace the pan second best, is it weld repair it but if you do not have welder available or are not skilled in gas welding (a coat hanger could be used to gas weld it up) or have the oxy-acetylene/propane bottles and torches you are stuck with either going to a welding shop and most change a minimum of an hour. I would completely avoid the epoxy in this application as it is not a question of if it will fail but rather when will it fail.

If you have the lead /solder kicking around and some muriatic acid and something made from or plated with zinc that can be sacrificed and a handheld torch the repair is essentially free. Plus it is a good skill to have in you repertoire of DIY.

Back in the day pre welding or before basically anyone had a welder at home or a oxy-acetylene/propane torch set and before epoxies, this was the go-to for repairing stuff. As you could repair near any metal object with a blow torch killed sprits and some lead alloy. Although not recommended I have seen thin wall steel pressure vessels ( low pressure 50 psi and under) that were leaded up to seal pinholes a century ago and are still useable to this day. So the durability of the repair will never be in question.

 

First I want to thank everyone for all the POSITIVE EDUCATED RESPONSE ... So much good information in this thread for a subject many of us deal with. Apparently my engine has been swapped because it has the dipstick tube in the pan. I had looked for quite a while for a replacement and those $75 beer money pans are not what would fit my truck.
I thank you for the info about JB Weld because I know that is a discussion I have seen in forum's. The lead repair is definitely doable and like mentioned will also stop further corrosion. As a retired plumber I am sure that I possess the ability as I learned when lead pipe, cast iron caulked and leaded joints and lead solder was still in being used.
I have opted to purchase a new pan as I finally found one at Rock Auto ... $80 including shipping and tax ...
My pan leak also was concerning as it was under the reinforced drain plug hole plate. I'm not sure that I could get a good bond there with anything including a weld.
Again I thank you all for a great informative discussion and a repair that I have not seen discussed here. Please don't hesitate to continue the conversation as I am sure that down the road it will be appreciated by someone else at wit's end ... Thank You All ... God Bless

 

You done good little grass hopper
In the long run you will be much better off with the new pan and not worry about this half azz fix coming undone.
Dave ----

 

Ok ... So the new oil pan came and all the bolt holes ect line up and look good so I drop it down only to discover that the slot for the pick up tube is in the wrong place ... No problem I can move that ... after several fittings and grinding and filling I am down as far as I can and the pan Still hits the tube and won't fit all the way down to the block.
My next thought is can I heat and bend the tube to fit and if so do I "need" to attach back to the bearing cap or will it stay attached to the oil pump without it ... I have searched to see if there is a 6 qt pickup tube and a 5 qt tube as these trucks seem to have 6 qt pans and replacement pans are 5 qt ...