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I have a 2008 Civic DX with under 63000km on it. Three months ago I had an oil change done, but very recently I noticed an oil stain on my driveway. The car has never leaked before. I took it back to the shop that did the oil change, thinking perhaps the oil filter or drain plug had come loose. Alas, they showed me the car on the hoist where one can clearly see the aluminum oil pan is rife with tiny cracks over most of its surface. The pan has never collided with anything to cause this. Oil seemed to be seeping from many of the cracks, enough to make a four inch puddle after a few hours. The service guys tell me they have heard of this issue before with Hondas, and even have a replacement oil pan in stock.
Fixing this with parts, labour and new oil/filter, shop supplies, taxes will run about $CAD750.
Well then you could phone a couple different independent shops and get quotes from them
No problem getting quotes for a fix, which will get done tomorrow. My main question was whether this cracked oil pan is a problem which others have encountered.
Here is a photo of the oil pan after removal today. There are a number of rough areas and apparent cracks near the drain plug, and also near the oil filter location. No obvious cracks though to be seen on the inside.
I suppose now it will make an interesting flower pot.
An update: I took the car back to the same service centre for another oil change last week, and took the old oil pan into the assistant manager for his opinion (no, I did not end up using it for a flower pot). He thinks this way - perhaps sometime in the past, a mechanic removing the drain plug put the wrench in the nine o'clock position and pulled it down too hard - putting strain on the thinner area below the drain plug and leading to future cracks. He thinks a mechanic should first put the wrench at the 5 o'clock position and push upwards, to begin with, thus putting all effort into an upwards motion which will not strain the thinner area below the drain plug.
