I have a 2011 Jeep Liberty and the oil pan rusted out and it was driven for a while without oil. The oil pan was fixed a couple days later. This happened in April 2014, in Oct 2014 the engine started to rap (knock). I brought it to the shop and it was fixed. In March 2015 it started to knock again, brought it back to the shop and I was told it was tappet wear, in July 2015 it started to knock again, so I brought it back to the shop and I was told it might be a lifter causing the noise because one might be bleeding down, in May 2016 the engine started to knock so bad I couldn't drive it. I had it towed to the shop and they told me I need a new engine, and now my warranty is over by 3000 miles and I will have to pay over $5000 for a new engine. My question, was this all caused by the oil pan rusting out and it running out of oil? It only has 78,000 miles.
1 Answers
Your oil pan didn't rust
I would just like to point out that your oil pan can't just rust out. It is made of material that doesn't rust. So when you had a hole in your oil pan it more than likely hit a rock or curb or something that penetrated it. Perhaps the other driver of the vehicle.
On the other hand, if your oil pan was replaced with something that does rust then it could have rusted but I doubt you replaced it with one made of iron or steel.
Your Question
My question, was this all caused by the oil pan rusting out and it running out of oil?
More than likely running your engine without oil has contributed to an early failure of your engine. Bearings require lubrication and your crankshaft 'floats' on a thin layer of oil in your crank case. Loss of oil pressure can quickly degrade these types of bearings and increase wear on them dramatically.
It would be a safe assumption to say that a loss of oil pressure to your engine has contributed to it's early demise.
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