That's a new one, punctured oil pan on the highway (with damage pics)

[regder]

Guess I really should have bought a skid plate for 99% road only ST

On the highway today cruising at 120kmh(75mph) hear a crunch, look behind me to see a trail of smoke, immediately hit the kill switch and pull in the clutch. Was able to coast from the far left lane to the minimized shoulder (thanks construction!) and wait for a tow.

Sure enough, have a clean hole in the oil pan with some superficial damage around it. No idea what I hit as I didn't even feel it with the front tire.

Will check the engine tomorrow to confirm that it's not seized. Assuming it isn't, I need to do the math on whether it is going to make sense to file an insurance claim or not.

At minimum if I fix it I am going to need a new pan and gasket, new tires, and new rear brake pads. My deductible is the price of the oil pan alone so I'm going to have some thinking to do.

 

[gv550]

Glad you were able to stay upright and get to the shoulder. Hopefully no engine damage.
Was the stock plastic 'guard' destroyed too? Or does it not cover that portion of the pan?

 

[Sierra1]

. . . . My deductible is the price of the oil pan alone so I'm going to have some thinking to do.

That should be on your comprehensive. Like if you hit a deer. Sometimes they try to put it on your collision.

 

[regder]

Glad you were able to stay upright and get to the shoulder. Hopefully no engine damage.
Was the stock plastic 'guard' destroyed too? Or does it not cover that portion of the pan?

Plastic guard looked fine but I didn't look too closely. It only covers maybe the first couple of inches from the front of the motor. This is the far back.

That should be on your comprehensive. Like if you hit a deer. Sometimes they try to put it on your collision.

I have comprehensive so it should be ok. Another question mark is the potential time delay on parts, need to look into that tomorrow.

 

[~TABASCO~]

If you turned it off seconds after you heard the ‘crunch’ your motor is probably OK.

If there is some crazy lead time for a pan hit me up if your interested. I probably have one that I can fix up and I probably have a good one.

Throw that out so you can keep riding……….

 

[regder]

If you turned it off seconds after you heard the ‘crunch’ your motor is probably OK.

If there is some crazy lead time for a pan hit me up if your interested. I probably have one that I can fix up and I probably have a good one.

Throw that out so you can keep riding……….

Appreciate the offer! Going to pull the pan tomorrow if I have time just to make sure there isn't any obvious further damage as well as turn the motor over by hand.

I want to say at most it was running for five second after the crunch, more likely only a couple seconds so I'm thinking (praying?) that the engine is likely fine.

 

[WJBertrand]

The hardest hit my skid plate ever took was on the highway. I ran over something metal I think and the front wheel kicked it into the skid plate hard enough to leave a pretty good dent. Hate to think what would have happened if the skid plate had not been there.


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[TenereGUY]

Very unfortunate, but due to your quick thinking I'll bet you don't have any damage other than your pan. Glad you're safe.
I had my insurance tell me once if the deer is alive and crossing the road it would be under comprehensive. If it was dead in the middle of the road and I hit it then under collision as it was now an inanimate object in the road that I hit. So good luck with that.

 

[bikertrash2001]

First off, kudos for keeping the bike under control with that greasy doughnut on the back. Second, that is a weird looking wound. It almost looks like an exit wound but that part in the hole looks like it would keep something from coming out from the inside at that point. Is that the oil pump pickup tube?

 

[Jlq1969]

I don't think anything can hit so far back and so hard to break the crankcase and dent the catalytic converter... without you seeing it in front of you, and feeling how you ran over it... That break must be old (probably from the previous owner), that he fixed it maybe by gluing it….the typical place of the blow…the ventral angle

 

[Fennellg]

well look at this in the proper light. 1. no one was hurt or worse. 2. Insurance will more than likely picking up the tab.

you could have been killed or injured badly, you could have had liability only insurance and been out some money. NOT FUN BUT THE BALL defiantly BOUNCED YOUR WAY !!!!!!!

Seems like someone up there likes you. A bit inconvenient but things could have been so much worse.

 

[regder]

First off, kudos for keeping the bike under control with that greasy doughnut on the back. Second, that is a weird looking wound. It almost looks like an exit wound but that part in the hole looks like it would keep something from coming out from the inside at that point. Is that the oil pump pickup tube?

Thank you, definitely could have been much worse given the situation. That part is actually a baffle inside the pan that should be located right where the hole is.

I don't think anything can hit so far back and so hard to break the crankcase and dent the catalytic converter... without you seeing it in front of you, and feeling how you ran over it... That break must be old (probably from the previous owner), that he fixed it maybe by gluing it….the typical place of the blow…the ventral angle

There is no obvious signs that it was a previous break and repair. I'm sure I would have noticed it before, plus the dent on the centre stand (pic below) is definitely new, not so sure about the dent in the cat though.

well look at this in the proper light. 1. no one was hurt or worse. 2. Insurance will more than likely picking up the tab.

you could have been killed or injured badly, you could have had liability only insurance and been out some money. NOT FUN BUT THE BALL defiantly BOUNCED YOUR WAY !!!!!!!

Seems like someone up there likes you. A bit inconvenient but things could have been so much worse.

Yup, feeling the same. Not the best time financially for this to happen, but it could have been a lot worse.


Now onto the good stuff. Pulled the pan today and things are looking promising. The dry sump drain bolt had nothing in it, but the engine drain bolt let out between 0.5-1L of oil, also no gold dust in the oil. There is zero damage on the inside of the motor to indicate that it was an internal failure. As shown in the pics, there is only a small window between the transmission and the dry sump that something would have to shoot through and there is no damage anywhere around it. Also the broken baffle found inside the pan has zero damage to the top section, but a scratch on the bottom which is the bottom/exterior of the oil pan. Further to everything, there is a pretty good ding in the centre stand that 99% wasn't there before.

 

[thughes317]

Glad to see you escaped unscathed, hopefully this ends up being nothing more than an expensive oil change.

 

[bikertrash2001]

Glad to see you escaped unscathed, hopefully this ends up being nothing more than an expensive oil change.

Yeah, that looks like it could've take a couple of toes off!

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

Did you wander back up the road to see if anything obvious caused it?

 

[regder]

Did you wander back up the road to see if anything obvious caused it?

No chance of that, happened in a very high traffic area on the highway

 

[Fennellg]

Wondering if a skid guard would have done any good. What ever went into your bike did so with a vengeance. Things pierce armor all the time. Bullets come to mind. They get better then armor gets better. The competition is endless.

We are in strange times I would definitely try to figure out what happened.

 

[Sierra1]

Even a light skid plate most likely would have prevented the damage. All it has to do is deflect the object, more than stop it. I hear/feel stuff hitting mine quite often, and have never seen what it was. Also feel it on my feet. I've never felt so much stuff on feet on other bikes. I don't know it there's more stuff on the roads, the skid plate deflects more than bikes without, or the extra ground clearance allows more stuff to get under it.

 

[Jlq1969]

Even a light skid plate most likely would have prevented the damage. All it has to do is deflect the object, more than stop it. I hear/feel stuff hitting mine quite often, and have never seen what it was. Also feel it on my feet. I've never felt so much stuff on feet on other bikes. I don't know it there's more stuff on the roads, the skid plate deflects more than bikes without, or the extra ground clearance allows more stuff to get under it.

It occurs to me that it may have been a piece of metal plate (rectangular), that the front wheel lifted and got stuck between the asphalt and the crankcase (not very thick)…so didn't feel when stepped on it…..but the scratches make it clear that it came from the front and from the bottom up…..pure coincidence

 

[regder]

It occurs to me that it may have been a piece of metal plate (rectangular), that the front wheel lifted and got stuck between the asphalt and the crankcase (not very thick)…so didn't feel when stepped on it…..but the scratches make it clear that it came from the front and from the bottom up…..pure coincidence

Good CSI work!