Okay here's the story, my son changed my oil a while back and thought it would be a great idea to recycle the used oil onto all of my nuts and bolts, frame, and oilpan on the engine . He thought he was doing a good favour by recycling it but what he didn't realize was that used oil is very acidic/corrosive.

So what I have now is an engine that looks older than a '98 civic, he's accelerated the corrossion and rust on everything he put the oil on.

So now I have an oil pan and all the bolts that hold it on, rusting like crazy. Do I replace the oil pan? How big a job is it to change myself? or clean it all off with varsol, sand it, paint it then coat it with good oil? And what to do with the bolts? The ones I can view under the hood (shock tower bolts, valve cover bolts, etc...) I've wire brushed and coated with good oil. Should they have been washed first? Maybe the acidity has worn off, or completely reacted anyway but I think they're okay. Should I replace them? What are the proper sizes of bolts and nuts on the oil pan so I can pick some up at a nut and bolt supply store? Better yet is there a list of common bolts and nuts used on the honda civic?

Now on the frame rails underneath the car he said he dipped his finger in the used oil and scraped some into the holes of the frame underneath the car and the frame rails (at least the one side he got to) is showing some pretty good signs of rusting. Now in that case, do I flush out the inside with varsol or just fill it full of good oil and flush it that way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Odds are your not going to keep the car long enough for things to start falling off. Hey, worst case, he end's up with the car and then it's his headache.

I wouldn't be to worried about it. Just spray the stuff with WD40 and be done with it. It's just a car.

What are the plans for the car, long term ?

2 or 4 doors ?

 

It's a 4 door. The plan is to keep it going for as long as possible 5 maybe 10 more years? Although it's already up to 200,000 km.

I'm just worried the oil pan will start leaking. Although you are right, it's just a car and I shouldn't worry about it too much.

And if it does start leaking, I suppose I would just use some fiberglass and epoxy to patch up the hole anyway. I think I did that with an oil pan on a car already many years ago. I had a leak on a radiator one time and some 5 minute epoxy worked quite well.

So I shouldn't waste my money on replacing the rusted bolts, just spray them with oil. okay, thanks.

 

Yes, that's all I'd do. My rust bucket 86 Ford F150 is still running good and the 97 Suburban has a rusty (surface) frame but will still pull the 18ft open trailer and car just fine.

 

lol recycling failure

 

Recycling failure, that is quite funny to think about it.

 

Used engine oil undercoating is a big business here in Canada must, be a scam to make your car rust out quicker, have to contact Mythbusters on that one. Fluidfilm is a good corrosion inhibitor/slower. The oil pans are bad, once you get a blister look out, two or three seasons of road salt and you get a hole. Keep an eye on the coolant tube that runs from the water pump to the thermostat housing underneath the intake plenum, nobody notices the corrosion ther until it is leaking coolant.