What is this plate on my oil pan???

[iamdub]

I do know I took 3 of the bolts out of mine. I thought it might be an access port for the oil pum oring. But no oil came out so I stopped.

Lol- access port. You mean like what GM should've included in the beds and floors of/ their trucks and SUVs from '87-'06 to access the fuel pump module?

Judging by the number of bolts, my guess on the plate mystery is that it has to do with reinforcement. The oil pan on the LS engine is a structural part of the bottom end of the motor and that plate is on a wide and otherwise unsupported area. Casting reinforcement ribs on the inside of the pan would impede oil flow back to the sump and casting them on the outside would increase the size profile. Maybe engineers measured dangerously excessive stresses in this area and this plate is all that was needed to sufficiently reinforce it while meeting a certain budget. Retooling to add threaded bosses to an existing pan design would be much cheaper than retooling for an entirely new pan design.

Just my guess!

 

[Brian Wilson]

I like my idea better. So if for some reason you are running without your engine cradle over rough terrain, and a sharp very soft rock hits that particular spot on your pan, the soft rock will shatter before it hits the much lower sump and your engine will be perfectly safe.

 

[kbuskill]

Lol- access port. You mean like what GM should've included in the beds and floors of/ their trucks and SUVs from '87-'06 to access the fuel pump module?

Judging by the number of bolts, my guess on the plate mystery is that it has to do with reinforcement. The oil pan on the LS engine is a structural part of the bottom end of the motor and that plate is on a wide and otherwise unsupported area. Casting reinforcement ribs on the inside of the pan would impede oil flow back to the sump and casting them on the outside would increase the size profile. Maybe engineers measured dangerously excessive stresses in this area and this plate is all that was needed to sufficiently reinforce it while meeting a certain budget. Retooling to add threaded bosses to an existing pan design would be much cheaper than retooling for an entirely new pan design.

Just my guess!

Just seems odd to me that none of the other LS pans for other vehicles have this plate, at least none that I am aware of.

 

[iamdub]

Just seems odd to me that none of the other LS pans for other vehicles have this plate, at least none that I am aware of.

I thought about that, but summed it up to product improvement. Maybe there were a few cases where the older design developed cracks? Like I said- it's just my guess based on what I see.

 

[iamdub]

I like my idea better. So if for some reason you are running without your engine cradle over rough terrain, and a sharp very soft rock hits that particular spot on your pan, the soft rock will shatter before it hits the much lower sump and your engine will be perfectly safe.

I'm not saying anyone here is right or wrong about what this is, but I just don't see GM going out of their way to invest money to alter an existing design and add parts just for the chance that someone out there among these millions of SUVs removes something then goes off-roading and then is lucky enough to hit a particularly soft rock that just so happens to not hit the much lower oil pan sump but also finds it's way around the cross member. By this logic, GM should install sweepers in front of each tire just in case somebody happens to drive where there may be nails because there's a much larger chance of that.

 

[Brian Wilson]

Gm reads this forum sometimes. The 2018 yukon denali will probably have a dirt devil in front of each tire now.

 

[iamdub]

Gm reads this forum sometimes. The 2018 yukon denali will probably have a dirt devil in front of each tire now.

...Followed by threads here on how the Dirt Devil system is prematurely failing and/or causing head-pounding harmonics and/or just falling off.

 

[Rocket Man]

...Followed by threads here on how the Dirt Devil system is prematurely failing and/or causing head-pounding harmonics and/or just falling off.

LMAO.

 

[Brian Wilson]

I'm selling the Kirby upgrade for only 998$. Pm for details

 

[Rocket Man]

I'm selling the Kirby upgrade for only 998$. Pm for details

PM sent.