Lower oil pan gasket replacement

[AK Falco]

so here is what the trans pans looked like when i went under the other day.

After cleaning off the oil from underneath the pans and going for a little drive I checked again. oil streaking from the front of the car backwards. i appeared to be starting only behind the oil pan. the front of the pan was clean and dry but behind was oily and wet.

I decided to replace the gasket thinking that was the culprit. (Note; the gasket is a special order item only from all parts stores i tried. takes 3 to 5 days to receive.)

This is the condition of the old gasket upon removing the pan.

The old gasket appeared to be made of silicone as it was stretchy like a rubber band and very hard to remove from the pan. (best way i found was using a green scratch pad to remove stuck on gasket.)

all clean

This is the bottom of the upper oil pan you can see lots of gasket fragments.

All clean( used a razor blade to scrape)

the gasket

When droping the oil pan you can get a full oil change( over 5 qts.) so make shure you have enough oil to fill her back up!

A good time to use synthetic and a new filter.

That oil is expensive! try to get every last drop.

this was the left over oil.

Not a very hard job all in all. make shure you have a 6 mm alan wrench on a socket as well as a torque wrench so you can install properly.

(after taking for a drive i nocited a small amount of oil on the trans pan again but much less than before. posibly a valve cover gasket? i cant find a diagram of this in the work shop manual. please help)

[LittleBeast]

(after taking for a drive i nocited a small amount of oil on the trans pan again but much less than before. posibly a valve cover gasket? i cant find a diagram of this in the work shop manual. please help)

I have the exact same condition on the bottom side, and I have traced it all the way up to the valve covers But it is good to know how to replace that gasket I may do that soon, thanks.

[circmand]

can we max out the size of photos or warn when someone downloads a full chip full. Also maybe cut photos oout of quotes? It takes forever to download.

[nfpgasmask]

Wow, so, how was dropping the oil pan? Isn't there a cross member in the way that supports the motor???

Bart

[AK Falco]

No Bart the lower oil pan is easy to remove. the cross member is right behind the pan so it dose not obstruct removal. although it did take a little persuasion to separate it once all the bolts were removed. I was thinking Ok...... the last bolt is off.... here comes the pan and all the leftover oil in it...... Nope, had to use a hammer and screwdriver to break the seal.

Of course i drained the oil first.

[nfpgasmask]

Cool, from looking at it, it looked like there is enough room, but I wasn't sure.

Bart

[kronopoliz]

When dropping the tranny pan it was recommended to use a ballpin hammer to flatten bolt holes on the pan from the side that receives the gasket as they may cut the gasket upon tightening ONLY IF ITS STEEL. Backed by a piece of wood just a tap will do ya. The tranny pan is steel, so if the oil pan is as well it would be a great step towards ensuring the gasket gets a flat seat and longer life before leaking. Someone should list torque specs on bolts as most of us aren't as fortunate to have THE MANUAL and probably over tighten.
And the big pics are great, I've got dial-up and it only took me 3 mins to download so quit ur bitchen!

[Mile High VX]

This is my next project...torque spec is 18 ft/lbs and you need a 6mm hex in a socket.

The shop manual puts this and the crankcase gasket in the same service. So did my local Pep Boys and they quoted me over $1K to change this gasket. I told them you could do it separate, but they had to go by the "book". Would a little common sense please report for duty...

Ordered the gasket from my local parts store and it will be here in the morning. Looking forward to getting rid of those little brown drops on my garage floor!

Any suggestions on what's best to use to clean out the oil pan before I put it back on?

[Mile High VX]

So Mr. Murphy and me accomplished this task today...

Two of the bolts were stripped at the 6mm head so had to use an extractor. Also, not enough room for this so had to remove the cross-member as well...

PO installed a oil pan heater so had to remove all the holders for the plug that's mounted behind the grill so had to take all that apart as well.

Took about 5 hours counting the trip to get the extractor. While I was out I went and got all new bolts as well. 8 x 1.25 x 16mm.

We'll see if that solves all of my drip issue...there was some oil coming from under the fly wheel cover as well.

[johnnyapollo]

That old gasket has the look of Permatex (or similar) - looks like the previous owner didn't want to wait on a proper gasket...

[JHarris1385]

Ill hopefully be doing this repair this weekend.

[JHarris1385]

I too had the red gasket

[DaveMcKenz]

I see Rock auto lists an upper and a lower oil pan gasket. Is the upper oil pan sealed with silicone or a separate gasket?
Thanks,
Dave

[Mile High VX]

I see Rock auto lists an upper and a lower oil pan gasket. Is the upper oil pan sealed with silicone or a separate gasket?
Thanks,
Dave

From the factory it's only silicone.

[DaveMcKenz]

The factory manual says the upper oil pan can be pulled from below, by dropping the cross member and front diff. Anyone have any experience. How tough is this.
Thanks,
Dave