Rust Where It Can Really Hurt--Oil Pan Bottom

[Soul Shinobi]

Hello, I have a 1992 Subaru Legacy with over 253,000 miles (no major part failure either!) and needless to say it's taking on some noticeable rust. The body rust concerns me little, however, compared to more vital components, in this case I have the oil pan in mind.

It's clearly not ready to rust through, but the rust that's there has surely been there a long time. I'm worried that scraping the rust off might make the metal dangerously thin, as I'm not sure how deep the rust goes. Would it still be best to try to scrape down to bare metal, or is there something I can just put over the rust that will last a few years? In either case, what would you recommend I use? The more information the better, I absorb it. Thank you!

[ZRX61]

Is it easy to drop the pan off? If that were the case I'd have it powder coated... or maybe just replace it, they can't be that expensive?

[Roger J.]

If the rust looks like small bubbles, I'm willing to bet that there's small pinholes hiding beneath it already. You're probably gonna have to get rid of the loose rust before you can plaster anything like "JB Weld" on it anyway, and I don't know how much heat that type of stuff can handle. No matter the mileage,, consider what the towing bill will be if the repair fails. A new oil pan is probably under $100.

[dave_demented]

i would try to pull the pan, and replace it if it seems thin. try scraping/poking it a little its pretty easy to tell if its thin