oil pan replacement - 2001 Protege

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More old photos have turned up.

In late 2011 the Check Engine light came on in the Protege. I read the code, which indicated an O2 sensor malfunction.

I checked under the car, and reason for the malfunction was evident; someone had hit something hard enough to break the O2 sensor and dent the oil pan. (I was not a frequent driver of the car.)



My fear was that the exhaust studs would break off, so I soaked them with lots of penetrating oil first.



Out came two studs and one nut.



Here's the old dead sensor assembly.


Things looked OK after the oil pan was off, and I was pleased to see that the pick-up had not been damaged.



Here are the oil pans old and new.


And here's everything back together.
 
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Nice work! Doesn't look like it was that much of a pain (but still)! I know for a fact on my LR3 and Liberty the engine has to come out to replace the oil pan. The Liberty you could also drop the front suspension cradle/diff. The LR3...pulling the engine requires pulling the body.
20746d1397878948-lr3-fuel-pump-issue-d3-body-lifted-front-view.jpg
 
Wow I can't believe that the oil pan AND the O2 sensor are so exposed. On my GTO there is a 30 lb steel skid plate protecting the pan and other important bits. Replacing the oil pan is a major PITA since you have to remove the front cradle and suspension, and if the pan is damaged they are extremely expensive due to the the pan being unique to this car, if you can even find them. Some folks remove the skid plate to save some weight on the front end. Mine is staying put.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
Nice work! Doesn't look like it was that much of a pain (but still)! I know for a fact on my LR3 and Liberty the engine has to come out to replace the oil pan. The Liberty you could also drop the front suspension cradle/diff. The LR3...pulling the engine requires pulling the body.
20746d1397878948-lr3-fuel-pump-issue-d3-body-lifted-front-view.jpg


Wow, that's an undertaking! Wouldn't have happened in my driveway in one Saturday.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
That pickup is nice and clean!

Oil and OCI history?

We bought the car in September '05 with 66K km on it. I changed the oil Spring and Fall, always with Mobil 1 5W-30 for the winter, and Mobil 1 5W-30 or 10W-30 for the summer. Filter was replaced at each oil change with a Baldwin B-1402.

The car had approximately 165 - 170K km on it at the time of these repairs. So that would be approximately 100K km of Mobil 1 changed at approximately 8K km intervals.

The previous owners (air force maintenance folks) seemed very conscientious, and I'm sure took good care of the car.
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
I probably would have left that old oil pan on. It wasn't leaking.

Agreed, but I feared that the pick-up might have been bent, wrong level might be indicated on the dipstick, etc. As it turned out, you're right, the old pan was still fully functional.
 
Originally Posted By: Gimpy1
Wow I can't believe that the oil pan AND the O2 sensor are so exposed. On my GTO there is a 30 lb steel skid plate protecting the pan and other important bits. Replacing the oil pan is a major PITA since you have to remove the front cradle and suspension, and if the pan is damaged they are extremely expensive due to the the pan being unique to this car, if you can even find them. Some folks remove the skid plate to save some weight on the front end. Mine is staying put.

There is a plastic skid plate, removed for the work and so not shown in the photos, but it obviously didn't provide much protection. Yes, more protection would have been good. I'd have been glad to pay a 30# weight penalty.
 
Looks good and saved a lot of cash.
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I would have done the same thing, not knowing the condition of the pickup tube would have bothered me too much.
 
In hindsight, I might have drained the oil and tried to get a boroscope camera in there to look around first. If it looked good, I'd have gone with it as is.

But it's done now and you won't worry about it.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
In hindsight, I might have drained the oil and tried to get a boroscope camera in there to look around first. If it looked good, I'd have gone with it as is.

But it's done now and you won't worry about it.


I'm glad I did the repair, the car served us well for almost five more years afterwards. We got almost 11 years out of it and put very little into it beyond regular maintenance. It was a good buy for C$8900 in 2005. But once the floor of a unibody car starts to rust and sag, it's time.
 
I feel you. My P5 had over 230K miles on it, was rusting, needed new tires and the rear main was leaking.

It wasn't worth the $1k I'd have to have put into it, and it would have still been rusting away. So I traded it away for a new to me 2012 Mazda 3 in early September. My car and $9900 and I took the 2012 2.5L 3 home, out the door. Not bad for a loaded car with 67k miles on it.

And like yours, even the oil pan was rusting
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Originally Posted By: javacontour
I feel you. My P5 had over 230K miles on it, was rusting, needed new tires and the rear main was leaking.

It wasn't worth the $1k I'd have to have put into it, and it would have still been rusting away. So I traded it away for a new to me 2012 Mazda 3 in early September. My car and $9900 and I took the 2012 2.5L 3 home, out the door. Not bad for a loaded car with 67k miles on it.

And like yours, even the oil pan was rusting
smile.gif


If the rear wheel wells aren't rusting, it's not a REAL Protege. Too bad, these were beautiful cars, especially the Protege 5s, but they were pretty biodegradable in this climate. Your 3 sounds really good. We gave the '01 Protege to our son in '13, and he got three more years out of it. We replaced it with the '09 Mazda 5, which has also been a good car for us. At nine years of age it's looking to be more rust-resistant than the Protege was.
 
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