oil pan gasket leaking...help

[Tom Tom Turbo]

just installed the new motor, and the oil pan gasket is leaking. I have tried tightening all the bolts, nothing changed. I'm sure its due to the stupid rubber gasket that came in the kit, and I probably should have used the cork one. How much of a PITA is this to change while the motor is still in the car? I really really REALLY don't want to have to pull it. Anyone have any tips?

 

[chazmat2316]

The pan comes down very easy, remove cross over pipe & sometimes jack up on trans pan for the extra inch. Not a big deal at all!

 

[EdMacKenzie]

its pretty easy to take the oil pan off ... have to remove the pickup before you can drop the full pan down though .. still not bad .. I never had any luck with the cork gaskets ... always good with the rubber though ... either way .. it still sucks..

 

[chazmat2316]

I never had to remove the pickup to get the pan down. Calk gasket or the right stuff works best!

 

[jgme]

As noted, remove the crossover pipe and unbolt the pan and work it out.

I've had excellent luck with cork gaskets AND Permatex HiTac as the gasket sealer. A friend used Permatex No. 2 as the sealer with good luck.

The neoprene gasket leaked when I put it in dry. Last time I used a thin coating of black RTV with the neoprene gasket and it worked great. No leaks.

 

[Tom Tom Turbo]

that would be my problem....I installed the neoprene gasket dry. It just seemed like it as a PITA to keep it centered on the bolt holes. Well, at least I can probably do it in a few hours on Saturday....whew :redface:

 

[chazmat2316]

no need for any sealer with cork or rubber. I think the rubber ones are crap! They split very easy if you over tighten the bolts. Last time around I just used a heavy bead of the right stuff, and that's all I'll use from now on! The whole job should take less than one hour. No biggie!

 

[WHEEZER]

If you do use a neo gasket, prep is everything.Clean pan and block surface of all traces of previous gasket material even the tiny stuff,a green scrub pad works well for this. Spray liberally with brake cleaner. Then spray down the new gasket with cleaner...it looks okay out of the box but can have a slight amount of oil based lube on it(used as a release agent to prevent sticking in the mold). Let dry throughly,install and torque to spec's in sequence and increments. If you're really meticulous you may want to clean the bolt's up with varsol or brake cleaner and use a thread chaser to clean the holes before re-installing them.

 

[turbofish38]

If your rubber gasket is leaking than you've got the bolts to tight! There is a reason there are big metal reinforcements on the pan rails!! IIRC the bolts should be torqued to 15 lb ft. As what was pointed out, prep is the key in making the rubber gasket work. I've never had a problem. If the rubber gasket was good enough for these cars when they were new than you shouldn't have a problem now.

 

[Steve V]

Pan gasket is 88 inch lbs,not sure if that crosses over to 15 ft lbs or not.