PioneerCrazed

My oil has been leaking for some while, and I'm pretty sure it is the oil pan gasket right below the timing cover. Tryed siliconing it, no luck just nastier mess. So, the question, if I were to put on a brand new seal. What are the chances this would solve the problem. Also, what does it involve, just loosen the oil pan and put it on, or would the engine have to be lifted an inch or so...

Thanks in advance, any help appreciated I want to stop this once and for all.

Later,
Alan

sancho

If the leakage is indeed due to a badly sealing oil pan gasket then, yes, replacing the gasket should fix it.

As far as actually replacing it... I'm not certain that it can be done with the engine still in the car.

I only have experience with one piece oil pan gaskets; if you're using a three piece, it might be easier or more difficult. With a one piece gasket--and assuming you want to tackle this with the engine still in the car--I'm reasonably sure that you would have to get the oil pan <i>completely off</i> in order to change it. I would imagine that you will run into some clearance issues with the crankshaft, so it might be necessary to unbolt the engine from the motor mounts, get a cherry picker, and elevate the engine in the engine bay as much as you can (definately remove your distributor before doing this so you don't break it against the firewall). Even then, I'm not sure if you would get enough elevation to clear the crank shaft.

Also, it's important to <b>thoroughly</b> clean the gasket surfaces on the oil pan, block, and timing cover to get the new gasket to seal properly.

The only sure-fire way I know of changing these things is to remove the engine. But, then again, there are people on these boards who are a lot more experienced/clever than I am, so hopefully somebody else can suggest something!

llvll4l2c91350

if you're not 100% sure where its leaking from try to verify first by degreasing the underside. i had a leak before that looked like a pan gasket. turned out to be leaking from where the dipstick meets the block.

MrDude_1

once you are 100% positive its the pan, heres how i did it in the car:

1. degrease EVERYTHING.. get it as clean as you can under there.
2 take off the exhaust y pipe.
3 pull the 2 engine mount bolts and the distrib.
4 hook up a hoist to the engine and lift the engine until the tranny bellhousing/back of the block are about to hit the firewall. place wood blocks, under the mounts so that if the engine were to fall, it would not fall on you. leave the hoist attached as a 2nd backup. not the primary. think SAFTEY.
5 get under there and take off all the pan bolts... the ones directly under the crossmember are the worse ones
6 wiggle the pan out the back of the crossmember. you may have to rotate the crank to get the front to clear.
7 clean off the mounting surface... both the pan and the block.
8 i would use a one piece gasket.... but if you dont, use some RTV where they meet and on both sides of the front and rear gasket.





oh yea... needless to say, disconnect the batt before you start this too.. esp if you start spraying water in there to clean it all off... and keep the water off the Alt if you can.

lol and another thing i left out.. drain the oil before you take the pan off.. lmao...