Oil pan is off...now some questions

[stickybones]

1. Should I replace the oil pick up tube and screen? It looks Ok, but then again, I don't really know what it should look like. If I should replace it, is it a dealer supplied part I can get at the local Buick palace?

2. More important question...I have a new cork gasket for the pan. Should I put it back on dry or should I smear it with silicon (both sides) and then reinstall? I would like to only have to do this once a decade.

Need advice.

Thanks
Mike

P.S. Hope the darn crossover pipe seals against the headers.

 

[Danster]

Mine looked ok too, however, I went ahead and replaced the part. Cheap price for the part. I got mine from Autozone. I would put some RTV sealer on the gasket to Oil pan side only.


Dannyo

 

[Quick6'n'-K.C.]

advanced sells a decent pickup tube pretty cheap- 21.00

and id use NO silicone on the blue felpro rubber oil pan gasket and DO NOT OVER TORQUE!

that will push the gasket out, and make it leak-

both are usually instock items at advanced auto

 

[1ARUNEM]

I didn't see any need to replace my oil pickup and screen when i did mine as all was clean. You can clean yours if you'd like.

Also, there have been a few comments on the lack in quality of anything but factory pickup tubes.. GM part is recommended..

As for the gasket, when installing cork, i usually just use a little "monkey/gorilla snot" (i.e. 3M weatherstrip adhesive) to adhere the gasket to the pan to keep it in place.. Then mate the gasket/pan directly to the WELL cleaned block surface..

HTH..

 

[stickybones]

1ARUNEM

Is this...umm..."gorilla snot" 3M weatherstrip adhesive something found in Home Depot or Lowes or the local auto parts store?

 

[tim87tr]

Some locktite on the pickup tube small bolts is not a bad idea either. I used the felpro rubber pan gasket also. The oil pickup gasket comes with the felpro pan gasket. Good idea to use antiseize on the crossover bolts. Tim

 

[topfuel]

Whatever you do, make sure you dont use sealer on both sides
of the gasket, it'll make the gasket real slippery and may want to
squish out when you tighten the pan.
If using cork gaskets, I prefer to glue the gasket to the pan
with 3M weatherstrip adhesive, no chance of it moving around
that way. Make sure you tighten the pan bolts evenly in 2 or 3
steps, moving in a criss-cross side to side pattern, this should
seat the gasket evenly.
I guess the new pickup tube cant hurt, cheap as it is

 

[WarpSpeed]

A new pickup tube isn't a bad idea. I changed mine, at some point.
On the Pan gasket, I put mine on dry, but I used thread to tie the gasket in place on the pan, it saved me a few choice words, I'm sure.

 

[1ARUNEM]

3M weatherstrip adhesive can be found at most any local parts store.. Usually in a red and white tube labeled "3M Weatherstrip Adhesive". Look in the area near the silicone and other adhesives/gasket makers..

HTH..

 

[MSDGN]

If you do replace or remove the pickup definitely use blue loctite
on the pickup bolts and torque to spec...more than enough people on this list have found out what happens when the pickup bolts loosen up...

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Since you are using the cork gasket you might want to try this method. RTV it to the oil pan and once it sets up a bit flip the pan over on to a flat surface making sure you don't disturb the gasket.
I then put some weight on the pan and let it sit over night. Then when you go to install the pan a slight coat of RTV on the other side of the gasket. Works for me.

 

[stickybones]

Well it's all done now. Put a few miles on it to make sure it was good and leak free. So far so good. See below for details.

I used 3M weatherstrip adhesive to attach the cork gasket to the pan. This did a good job holding it in place. I didn't need to jack up the motor to do this job, but I bet it would have made it easier...that is if jacking up the motor didn't make the WHOLE job more difficult. Didn't replace the pickup tube, just the gasket. I used blue locktite on the pickup tube bolts. Except for the seams at the rear cap and front cover in which I smeared a dab of silicone, the gasket to block surface was dry.

I think the factory torque specs for the pan gasket are crap. I needed to go hand tight with a 1/4 drive. Probably ended up somewhere at twice the factory spec of 8 ft-lbs. Besides, you can't really get a torque wrench on some of those bolts because of lack of room. I also needed to put some silicone in a few of the bolt holes as after the initial installation and test drive there appeared to be some oil weeping through the bolt holes. After squeezing some silicone (the high temp copper stuff) in the "leaking" ones, retorqueing the bolts back in, and letting it cure before driving again, it seems to be leak free now...at least down there. I still have oil coming from somewhere that rolls along the trans coolant lines and drips back by the starter. No other oil anywhere else, just on the coolant lines. Can't seem to trace it. It's miniscule, but bothering nonetheless. Where can it be coming from? Everything above it seems dry. My guess is somewhere near the oil filter. I'll have to check closer again.

In summary, not too bad of a job and it seems to be holding up so far. I guess the real test will be the next time I go racing with the motor running full boogie for 13 seconds at a time.

 

[Scott231]

Originally posted by MSDGN
If you do replace or remove the pickup definitely use blue loctite on the pickup bolts and torque to spec...more than enough people on this list have found out what happens when the pickup bolts loosen up...

Uh hem.....what?