OK, hit a rock at about 45 MPH, slammed my oil pan and mangled it beyond recognition. Rock then made it's way to catalytic convertor, mangled it up, and then was kind enough to totally destroy my once beautiful Comptech cat back exhaust. I'M PISSSSSSSED beyond control. I cut the engine about 30 seconds after it happened and I realized what was going on and coasted into the driveway. I heard something (crank hitting oil pan?) and am VERY WORRIED. I'm out $5xx for the exhaust, $200 for a cat, and ??? for a new oil pan (Moroso any good?), but assuming the crank was hitting the oil pan as I expect, what are the chances of it being damaged? Also, what are the chances of my engine being SOL and on its last legs since all the oil drained out within about a minute. I was on my way back from a 30 min ride, not running it too hard.

Any help would be great. I'm going to stick a new oil pan on tomorrow and fill her up with oil to see what happens unless I hear someone tell me that's a bad idea. I don't want to file this with insurance cause of the premium.

 

How the hell did you not see a roch big enough to that kind of damage?

Sounds like the engine is ok... especially since you shut it down quickly after. Obviously you wont be able to drive it anywhere to get it repaired tho.

Good luck.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds like you didn't have much choice but to run the rock over if you went right over it. If your insurance premium is less than the cost of what it would be to replace the parts, then you should file it only if they will replace your aftermarket exhaust. Just in case, do you know if they'd pay for any engine damage too? It really sounds like you can get this all fixed through insurance. Hopefully, you can.

I hope you get it fixed quickly without draining your finances.

 

hey, keep your head up.

I FLIPPED, then slid upside down into water. Can't get any worse.

 

If you've got comprehensive coverage on your insurance, then it should cover the damages (if you choose to file). If you don't, then I'm not sure how lenient they'll be on things that don't include non-self property damage....unless the rock files a claim.

 

Thanks for the positive comments. The rock turned out to be a chunk of asphalt, about 6" x 7" in size. I hit it b/c when I finally saw it, I couldn't swerve into the left lane due to oncoming traffic, and their was a 2' drop and some trees to my right... no shoulder on this road.

Does anyone know if it would be OK for me to replace the oil pan myself and just fill up the car and start it up? or if their is any way i can tell with my naked eye if their is any damage to the crank? thanks

 

Oil pan: Heard numerous remarks on Moroso!
It's expensive...around $300-$500 i think!

Just get an Spoon or a Mugen oil pan. They should be less than $300, if im correct!
All you need is a gasket and the pan. Also might as well change you oil also!

Insur. wise....... dont bother asking them to insurc. you.
That is just another "at-fault" being counted on you! They might raise your premium?? MIGHT-BE?


[Modified by project_GSR, 11:19 PM 11/4/2001]

 

I jacked my car up, sat it on 4 jackstands, and went to work today...
In order to take off the oil pan, you have to remove the lower half of the header (i took off from there back since it's all destroyed), the cover on the side of the tranny that protects your flywheel, a weird bracket thing that connects to the previously mentioned cover and the block, and then you have to remove all the bolts around the oil pan.

So I finally got all the rusted bolts out. It was real tough. My arms are still sore. *On a side note, I did buy a nice pair of blue and black Mechanix golves at Auto Zone... everyone should have a pair, everyone. OK, back to the story. Well the pan was so mangled that i could hardly get to a few of the bolts, but i eventually got them all off. I had to pry the pan off with two flat head screwdrivers. I got it off which left the oil pump sucker-upper-thing and a metal shield/baffle type thing exposed. They were preventing me from seeing the crank, so i go to take them off... Well the oil-sucker-upper thing is smashed into the metal shield/baffle and so i had to pry it down in order to get to the bolts. I finally got it off, and removed the plate thing. I can see, very very very clearly, where the crank was hitting the plate thingy. The part of the crank that connects to the piston in cylinder #1 was hitting it a little and left visible marks and a rut/dent, but the par tof the crank that connets to the piston in cylinder#2 was hitting the plate hard. It caused severe damage to the plate thingy in 2 or 3 places right next to eachother...

So here we go, I'm over my head. I can do a lot of stuff with my little bit of knowledge (no jokes now, thanks ) but I have no idea what kind if damage may be caused to the crank.

I am calling AAA tomorrow to tell them that I'm stranded in my friend's garage and i'm going to hope that when they tow it they don't notice the lack of an exhaust or engine parts that have been taken off (I'd hate for them to want to charge me, hehe). I'm gonna have my mechanic check it out and let him tell me what's up with the internals.

If he says that my crank is messed up, what should I do? Should I just get another OEM crank from acura, or are their other compareably priced cranks available that are just as good or better? If it's more than the crank then I'll be shopping out a stroker kit and I'm going to town. The insurance company is going to love me!

But anways, I'll post pics tomorrow. I'm still real confused as to what I want to do. I'd be more than happy to just have it back the way it was, but while I"m in there, some things would be very tempting.

 

WOW! that is like super crappy man I am really sorry to hear that to bad you didn't have a video camera/regular camer and could have taken pictures of that.. because if that was the case you could show proof that your car hit that and it mangled your vehicle and the state would have to replace it.. I was driving behind my friend one day watching him be a retard and filming him and he drove over a manhole cover that was sticking above the ground about 3 to 4 inches and it anhiliated his front lip and took his exhaust out and some other parts.. and when he let the state know what had happend they already had a crew out fixing it and then tried to deny that anything was wrong but when I provided film footage of it happening and pictures they were forced to pay for all of his stuff.. I don't know if you could do anything like that since it's after the fact and probably has been cleaned up since then but I would file that on my insurance my self if I didn't have the money right now.. chances are when you have another birthday your premium will lower a bit anyhow so it won't make that much of a difference... good luck man!

 

If you took a chunk out of the crank its theoretically possible that it could throw off the ballance of the rotating assembly. Personally though i dought that this would happen unless the oil pan and baffle are REALLY f'd up. if you have her up on stands and have removed the windage tray (metal baffle thingy) and oil sump pick up (metal tube thingy) then you should have an unobstructed view of the crank bearing girdle and the crank itself.

Take the spark plugs out so you can rotate the engine freely and use a socket on the crank pully bolt to rotate the crank. Clean everything up with WD40 and thoroughly inspect everything. I suspect that the crank bearing girdle protected the rotating parts but it (the girdle) should be inspected for cracks. If you only have scratches on the crank i wouldn't worry but inspect the piston rod cap bolts VERY carefully. You REALLY don't want those messed up.

Replace everything with stock parts. It shouldn't cost that much.

Sucks to hear about the accident. I suppose it could be worse. I once hit a 4" x 4" in a toyota celica at 50 miles an hour. It totally destroyed the rims on one side and severly bent the frame. The car was never the same.

Mike

 

check to see if your insurance has road hazard on it, if it does, this should be covered, and if the damage comes to more than the deductable go to the insurance.