Need to replace oil pan gasket

**Tampa T/A** · 02-13-2011, 07:36 AM

I need to save myself some money & I just meet a really cool older gentleman who happens to have 2 lifts in his pole barn. So I want to atempt the job myself. Does anyone have experience with this & does anyone have any tips? I will have access to an engine hoist & my Haynes repair manual says i will have to drop the front suspension. I am starting to wonder if this is to complicated for me to do myself.

**TA98** · 02-13-2011, 07:53 AM

youll have to drop the k member some and jack up the motor but i really dont think its all that hard

**JayTA98** · 02-17-2011, 07:00 AM

I did this recently and it not hard but it takes time. You need to remove your air lid, belts, alternator, alternator bracket and starter. Remove the 2 plastic cover on each side of the bell housing. Remove the heat shield on the driver's side motor mount. Drain your engine oil and take off the oil filter. Unplug the A/C compressor cluth connector. There is a small clip that holds the tranny cooler lines(A4) attached to the oil pan, remove this clip. The A/C compressor needs hang to the side and out of the way. Remove the A/C compressor bracket. You need to remove the alternator and A/C bracket to be able to remove the engine mount bolts.

Suck all the PS fluid out of the reservoir and disconnect the return line at the pump. Disconnect the pressure line at the rack and pinion (18mm open flare wrench) be carefull some fluid will still drain out.

Some people told me that you can remove the K member without having any issues with the PS but it was not the case. I didn't had a lift so I use jack stands, 2 jacks and some 4x4's. I also removed the sway bar and the front end links. You might not need to remove the sway bar because of the lift. I did because I needed to hold the engine by the harmonic balancer and the sway bar was on the way. I had some big cable ties (i mean really big ones) and hanged the A/C compressor to the right bracket that holds the sway bar bushing. If you have a strut brace I will remove it too. There is 2 brake lines that run along the k member, they had clips that hold them to it. If you remove those it will have enought slack to lower the k member. Remove the bolt from the steering linkage.

I jack my car up and set my jack stands. I put a piece of 4x4 between the oil pan and one jack. I jack the engine just a tad to remove the tension on the engine mount bolts. The bolts are 18mm. Remove those. Jack the engine up until it hits the the firewall. You only going to gain like 5-6 inches because of the exhaust anyway. I grabbed my 2nd jack and put 4x4's on it. I placed the
2nd jack underneath the harmonic balancer and jack it up to the point that is holding the weight. Make sure everything is safe and the jack feels solid. If you have to stack 4x4's make sure you drive screws to keep them together before you start lifting. Slowly lower down the jack that is under the oil pan. now you need to loosen up the K member. There are six 18mm bolts, 3 on each side. Before you start disconnect the ABS sensors to the front tires. Follow the wires and you will find the connectors close to the rear bolt of the k member. On the passenger side there is the O2 sensor plug that is attached to the K member, make sure you unclip it. I also removed the bolt that holds the brake line bracket right at the point the become rubber hoses on both sides and free the bracket.

Put the free jack underneath the K member in the center. The K member will not drop completly because it is still attached by the front shocks but you want to lower it slowly. Remove the k member bolts and lower the K member until it hangs. Keep an eye from the steering linkage that it doesn't get caught up on a heat shield that is close to it. Once it is hanging you can then remove all the bolts from your oil pan. Don't forget the 2 lower tranny bell housing bolts. The oil pan should come out easly if not make sure you got all the bolts out and hit it with a rubber mallet. You will have to move the K member forward(its free) and tilt the back part down to give you clearance. I removed the bottom shock bolts before trying to twist the K member. If you can't twist it enough to create clearance then perform this step. Clean everything really good including the oil pan. The old gasket has rivets on the oil pan itself, drill those out so you can get the gasket out. Make sure the oil pick up tube is not clogged up or partially clogged up. I use a small needle and cleaned the screen. At the front and back of the block you will see that they put RTV gasket sealer. Make sure that clean that area good and put dabs of new RTV gasket sealer on it. Place the gasket on the pan and put some bolts on it to keep it in place. Raise the oil pan back in it's place and the tight down some bolts by hand. You got to make sure the pan is flush again the tranny bell housing. Tight the bolts on a criss cross pattern to 18in-lbs. After this you pretty much reverse the process. Use the jack to raise the K member and put a couple of turns on all the k member bolts. Put the bottom shock bolts. Make sure you slowlly raise and keep check the steering linkage coupling. Make sure that you insert it as the K member goes up. Once you do that tight down all the K member bolts. Put the K member jack under the oil pan with a piece of 4x4. You are done with the K member. Now jack underneath the oil pan to support the weight. Lower the jack that is holding the engine by the harmonic balancer. Now slowly lower the engine paying attention to the engine until one of the holes align at the engine mount bracket. Put one of the engine mount bolts back. You might need a pry bar to move the engine some. In my case the passenger side aligned 1st try. The driver's aligned almost perfect after lowering the engine some more. I got the other bolt started by moving the engine with the pry bar. I used a hammer to drive it in. Put the engine mount nuts back and reinstall everything else back. When you tight down the pressure line of the PS pump be careful to not over do it. There is an O ring, you don't want to crush it. Don't forget to get the air out of the PS system and the steering linkage bolt.

**JayTA98** · 02-17-2011, 07:22 AM

Here are some pics:

**Danger731** · 02-17-2011, 07:24 AM

You don't need to do all that, trust me.

**JayTA98** · 02-17-2011, 07:26 AM

**JayTA98** · 02-17-2011, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by Danger731

You don't need to do all that, trust me.

I'm just putting the way I had to do it. If there is an easier way then share it with the OP. I tried different ways that were suggested and I end up having to do this. He said he has a lift so some of the steps can be avoided.

**Danger731** · 02-17-2011, 12:58 PM

A lift and tranny jack. undo the motor mounts, drop the k member 3 bolts each side, then use the tranny jack to give / raise the motor for more clearance. I did have to f around with the AC belt / pulley. That's about it. WAY EASIER this way. G/L

**JayTA98** · 02-18-2011, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Danger731

A lift and tranny jack. undo the motor mounts, drop the k member 3 bolts each side, then use the tranny jack to give / raise the motor for more clearance. I did have to f around with the AC belt / pulley. That's about it. WAY EASIER this way. G/L

Well i don't have the lift, are you using the tranny jack to lift by the tranny? Can I use the tranny jack with a combination of jacks? I'm just curious of how to do it easier. I'm going to buy a tranny jack in the future. Thanks.

**Tampa T/A** · 03-21-2011, 08:04 PM

Thanks for the write ups guys. I sent the car in today to have he job done along with plugs, wires, headers, ORY, rotors & pads. I just dont have the time. Thanks for taking the time to give me the info.

**blackbirdbrain89** · 03-23-2011, 04:24 AM

wow u did a lotta work. if it was me ide just knock the 6 bots to the k member the break lines and sway bar and the steering rod... then pop the eng mounts and just let it hang off the ball joints

**JayTA98** · 03-24-2011, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by blackbirdbrain89

wow u did a lotta work. if it was me ide just knock the 6 bots to the k member the break lines and sway bar and the steering rod... then pop the eng mounts and just let it hang off the ball joints

yup that's kinda of what i learned after more people added more info to this thread. i'm sure if I have to do it again it will be less work.

**wileyCoyote** · 03-24-2011, 09:33 PM

my oil pan drain plug hole has a heli-coil thread insert in it. my mechanic was telling me that if the insert comes out after removing for an oil change, he might have to remove/replace the pan.. he said the engine would have to come out!

**JayTA98** · 03-24-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by wileyCoyote

my oil pan drain plug hole has a heli-coil thread insert in it. my mechanic was telling me that if the insert comes out after removing for an oil change, he might have to remove/replace the pan.. he said the engine would have to come out!

No the engine don't have to come out for that. Either fix it or replace it with a new oil pan. you just have to do support the engine with a tranny jack or by the harmonic balancer. Then drop the K member for clearance.

**wileyCoyote** · 03-27-2011, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by JayTA98

No the engine don't have to come out for that. Either fix it or replace it with a new oil pan. you just have to do support the engine with a tranny jack or by the harmonic balancer. Then drop the K member for clearance.

i was talking to an aquaintance the other day about this, he (he's a gearhead, into racing/etc.) said he knows of a shop that would TIG weld a threaded boss onto the pan, thus solving the problem?. i wonder if it's safe to do that, and if anyone knows it's been done before.. feels like russian roulette! i should probably start a thread about this, ..don't want to derail the OP's thread.