Oil pan's
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Illinois
Oil pan's
Oil pan failure in Ford's? I have a '90 F150, 4.9, 4 speed, but that's my vehicle. Since retirement have driven an extended 94 Aerostar for a florist. The Boss bought it new, so it's been doing primarily intown deliveries ever since. Stop and go, multiple drivers, and with flowers onboard you let the engine idle when delivering large office building and hospitals. Some days you do not shut the engine off, once you start it. It must have a few jillion hours idle time alone. Plus it had 220,000 miles. And the engine still runs great. But here recently it started leaking oil like crazy, I thought aha, seals, whatever- turned out to be a rusted through hole in the oil pan. My nephew who's a mechanic, and a died in the wool GM fan, or brand X if you prefer, said Ford's are notorious for that, are they? I've driven Ford pickups for decades and have not heard of that problem.
Anyway, the business has other vehicles, but the Aerostar's my favorite to drive. The way it get's hammered in that type of work and keeps on going just impresses the heck out of me.
By the way, it's dry as a bone with the new oil pan, and the mechanic who did the job said other than the hole in the pan, the engine was so clean it was dusty under there. And for doubter's, those miles are genuine, I've put quite a few of them on myself.
Anyway, the business has other vehicles, but the Aerostar's my favorite to drive. The way it get's hammered in that type of work and keeps on going just impresses the heck out of me.
By the way, it's dry as a bone with the new oil pan, and the mechanic who did the job said other than the hole in the pan, the engine was so clean it was dusty under there. And for doubter's, those miles are genuine, I've put quite a few of them on myself.
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Joined: Sep 2003
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From: SoCal
Was this an aluminum oil pan? The oil pans on most of the Aerostar v6 that I've seen were cast aluminum. They don't normally rust out, unless you constantly hit it with salt sprays.
On a similar matter, does the 94 Aerostar still use that oil level sensor that screws into the side of the oil pan? I've had really bad luck with two of these leaking. The problem starts out with the sensor leaking, which dumps oil into the electrical connector. Then it just leaks right through the connector, and gets blown all over the underside of the van. This sensor really earns its keep though; it tells me when it has leaked enough oil to trip itself.
On a similar matter, does the 94 Aerostar still use that oil level sensor that screws into the side of the oil pan? I've had really bad luck with two of these leaking. The problem starts out with the sensor leaking, which dumps oil into the electrical connector. Then it just leaks right through the connector, and gets blown all over the underside of the van. This sensor really earns its keep though; it tells me when it has leaked enough oil to trip itself.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Illinois
Reply xlt4wd90
Can't answer, thats the beauty of driving Company equipment. You don't pay the bill. Did talk to the mechanic, but whether aluminum or not wasn't mentioned. I did mention multiple drivers, in a floral shop it's mainly female, I know for a fact of one occasion where it's been kind of left with the wheels hanging out in space, riding on the greasy side. Sure there were many more.
The mechanic did say it rusted through where the pan had been damaged. And with the amount of miles it has, it's never missed an icy or snowy day in Illinois.
The mechanic did say it rusted through where the pan had been damaged. And with the amount of miles it has, it's never missed an icy or snowy day in Illinois.
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,018
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From: SoCal
I think I finally fixed the oil leak on my Aerostar. As I wrote before, the oil level sensors on both my cars that have them were leaking. On the Aerostar, it was leaking severely. In both cases, the sensors had developed internal leakages, so the oil would leak into the electrical connector fitting, then through the connector itself, then out.
I tried various ways to seal them, but this last time looks like I was finally successful. I first cleaned out the connector with Gumout and degreaser. There is a little rubber plug on the end whose purpose may be to help prevent leaks like this, but it was constantly being pushed out, and left hanging on the wire. I filled the body of the connector with high-temp RTV silicone rubber and pushed it with the rubber plug until it started to ooze out the front of the connector. I also degreased the rubber lined hole in the sensor that the electrical connector plugged into, and applied lots of RTV to the outside of the connecotr body. I had to forcefully inster the connector into the hole, holding it there while the trapped air escaped. I left it to cure for a few days before driving it again. After the last long drive of 150 miles or so, I checked again, and that area is oil free. Hooray! I'll have to do this to my Mustang next.
I tried various ways to seal them, but this last time looks like I was finally successful. I first cleaned out the connector with Gumout and degreaser. There is a little rubber plug on the end whose purpose may be to help prevent leaks like this, but it was constantly being pushed out, and left hanging on the wire. I filled the body of the connector with high-temp RTV silicone rubber and pushed it with the rubber plug until it started to ooze out the front of the connector. I also degreased the rubber lined hole in the sensor that the electrical connector plugged into, and applied lots of RTV to the outside of the connecotr body. I had to forcefully inster the connector into the hole, holding it there while the trapped air escaped. I left it to cure for a few days before driving it again. After the last long drive of 150 miles or so, I checked again, and that area is oil free. Hooray! I'll have to do this to my Mustang next.
