This is bad. I was examining my front wheels for problems with vibration at highway speeds when I discovered a big crack near my oil filter. It looks like it starts near the oil pan gasket on the left and ends along the heat fin/brace on the right. How f'd is my engine? I'm at 165k miles and just put a new hv battery in 10 days ago.
Nothing dripping is a good sign. On this page (Amayama) there's "pan sub-assy, oil", lists at $772 CDN for me, plus $43 CDN shipping.
I wouldn't touch it it's not causing you any headaches You're losing no oil nothing's happening drive the car till it drops it's a Prius and an old one at that how screwed are you I don't know is screwed as you think you might be I guess but with nothing leaking out of the car and everything very uneventful I would say you're in great shape you should keep driving the car
It is external and no leaks are showing so I would leave it alone. Every oil change you can inspect it for further damage. Just to be sure use a high temp sealant and seal it so no water can be trapped and crack it further when freezes.
Thanks! If I had time and garage, I just might attempt a replacement. That's reassuring! I have new kyb struts on the way for the front end. That is a good idea for water getting in there. So I am missing nearly all plastic splash guards below the engine. Preventing water from entering the crack seems logical. Do you have a sealant recommendation?
I do not think that is a crack. If it was a crack that big/long it would be wet with fresh oil and dripping constantly. Yours is slightly "schmutzy", likely from minor gasket seeps. That looks like surface irregularities that happen on some types of aluminum castings. Seen them here and there- if it's not LEAKING, ignore it. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
In other words, been like that from day it was made. That’s reassuring. Except makes you wonder about Toyota quality control.
I was going to say it looked like aluminum casting marks with your common and all of this stuff but when you look forward in the picture to where it turns black where it looks like there's blow by or something going on just plain dirt it looks like the crack gets larger but the pictures are mediocre and it's difficult to see I enlarged it as best I could and cleaned it up and that's kind of what it looks like but who knows It doesn't look like it's leaking oil coolant or anything run the hail out of it
Possibly the oil pan was replaced by a previous owner? It might be a Dorman or some other aftermarket brand, and those often have all sorts of issues which the OEM parts don't.
Spray the crack with carb cleaner and wipe it clean to monitor weeping. Then put a big piece of cardboard under the engine to catch/monitor leaks. Back off it in the morning and get out and check the cardboard for oil leaks. Check the oil dipstick first thing in the morning before starting the car. It may not be leaking. Stay on that it may be a newer crack and all of a sudden start leaking. If you see any oil leak at all on the cardboard no matter how small then you know you got a weeper. Will have to be hyper watched. You run this engine real low on oil just once you will toast the motor. New motor time. The upper oil pan looks like a very big job the crank goes through it big rebuild job have to pull the engine much easier to just replace with a used motor. Btw, I owned my 07 for almost 15 years did alot of testing and monitoring of oil behavior and different grades and levels and found slightly overfilling it really helps with any minor engine oil loss. Like a quarter of an inch over the full line. This motor does not mind that at all ran my engine like that for a few years with virtually no oil loss at 170,000 miles.
Funny, I found the complete opposite–filling to ¼" under the Full dimple helps with slowing down oil disappearing.
