Cinder block hit; Now I know what......

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Jul 26, 2004
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New Bri-en, CT
Mid December I was driving on West Main Street in Chester CT in the yaris at night right after a snow storm and straddled what I thought was a block of snow in the road; turned out to be a cinder block which struck the underside of my car. I went and got gas and returned to the scene and cleared that block and another that was in the road; they were not the cinder blocks with thru passages but solid ones. Not sure how they got there.

I did a few visuals subsequently of some of the crossmembers, belly pans etc. Found where it hit today; pretty obvious if one looks there, which i did not

Yupper; direct oil pan strike, complete with remnants of block still stuck on there (oil is from the oil change i was doing, there are no leaks currently knock on wood)

How you plastic pan guys liking this? In the end both would need to be replaced.

New Yota pan is $60 but i just did an oil change so i might queue it up for late summer or just fluid film it occasionally and hope it doesn't rust thru.

(fyi, the wood is my 40000lb capacity ultra safe car "ramps"); this is passenger side looking rearward

edit: can anyone tell me why the fastener @ 7:30 position from the drain plug is unlike the others?
another edit: for people < 30; 7:30 references an analog clock which you might be familiar with. I understand the show "12 O'clock High" befuddles you. lol


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Both our car and truck have plastic oil pans. However, both have higher ground clearance than a Yaris or Prius.
 
Had this happen twice to others in my family.

My sister-in-law hit a concrete chunk in the road in their 2007 Uplander and tore off the oil filter. She got it over to the side of the road but the damage was done: engine knocked even after we put an oil filter on it to get it on the rollback. We threw in a salvage engine and it’s in use again... but bad design. The oil filter is in a vulnerable spot, hanging down low enough to catch debris. And, no shield of any kind.

My niece was following me home last April when I bought my 2015 Ram. She hit a huge chunk of treated wood and dented in the oil pan on her 2005 VW Beetle. We got it to a safe spot, I drove us home, got my trailer and went back and got it. About $60 later, she had a new oil pan and an early oil change to boot. It’s driving just fine. Difference in her case was that the oil was in a dented pan, instead of losing it out of a ripped to h#ll oil filter.

Don’t trust “debris” in the road! 😎
 
I would replace that ASAP only because I would worry about the oil pump pickup being squeezed, or bent, or otherwise compromised by the “new” pan shape.

Once you get it off, you should be able to see if the pickup itself was damaged. I expect both are special order parts, though.
 
Was following a plumber on the freeway once, in my 2004 Accord, and he lost a load of pipes off his trailer. Had to swerve pretty severely to miss them. Was glad I wasn't on the bike.

Yep, replace the pan.
 
Mid December I was driving on West Main Street in Chester CT in the yaris at night right after a snow storm and straddled what I thought was a block of snow in the road; turned out to be a cinder block which struck the underside of my car. I went and got gas and returned to the scene and cleared that block and another that was in the road; they were not the cinder blocks with thru passages but solid ones. Not sure how they got there.

I did a few visuals subsequently of some of the crossmembers, belly pans etc. Found where it hit today; pretty obvious if one looks there, which i did not

Yupper; direct oil pan strike, complete with remnants of block still stuck on there (oil is from the oil change i was doing, there are no leaks currently knock on wood)

How you plastic pan guys liking this? In the end both would need to be replaced.

New Yota pan is $60 but i just did an oil change so i might queue it up for late summer or just fluid film it occasionally and hope it doesn't rust thru.

(fyi, the wood is my 40000lb capacity ultra safe car "ramps"); this is passenger side looking rearward

edit: can anyone tell me why the fastener @ 7:30 position from the drain plug is unlike the others?
another edit: for people < 30; 7:30 references an analog clock which you might be familiar with. I understand the show "12 O'clock High" befuddles you. lol


View attachment 48282
 
Mid December I was driving on West Main Street in Chester CT in the yaris at night right after a snow storm and straddled what I thought was a block of snow in the road; turned out to be a cinder block which struck the underside of my car. I went and got gas and returned to the scene and cleared that block and another that was in the road; they were not the cinder blocks with thru passages but solid ones. Not sure how they got there.

I did a few visuals subsequently of some of the crossmembers, belly pans etc. Found where it hit today; pretty obvious if one looks there, which i did not

Yupper; direct oil pan strike, complete with remnants of block still stuck on there (oil is from the oil change i was doing, there are no leaks currently knock on wood)

How you plastic pan guys liking this? In the end both would need to be replaced.

New Yota pan is $60 but i just did an oil change so i might queue it up for late summer or just fluid film it occasionally and hope it doesn't rust thru.

(fyi, the wood is my 40000lb capacity ultra safe car "ramps"); this is passenger side looking rearward

edit: can anyone tell me why the fastener @ 7:30 position from the drain plug is unlike the others?
another edit: for people < 30; 7:30 references an analog clock which you might be familiar with. I understand the show "12 O'clock High" befuddles you. lol


View attachment 48282
Hats off to you for going back to pick up the blocks in the middle of the road,most drivers would keep going on.
 
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