Just finished replacing the oil pan gasket. Wow what a job.....

Something left out of the removal process was to remove the bolts and nuts holding the oil pick up tube in the sump. Other wise you cannot angle the pan enough to clear the transfer case and the front cat. Two 8mm bolts and a 10mm nut. Very tricky if you don't have small fingers.

Anyway, got it all back together, fired it up and find that the oil pressure light is on. Used a fram filter and valvoline Nexgen 5-30 oil.

What did i miss?

Thanks

 

so in the end, did anyone ever see this modded 10mm open ended wrench? and did anyone ever take any pictures of the job? if so please email anything you have... jrbox322@yahoo.com

thanks

 

Are some gaskets better than others? Jag, FelPro, Victor or they all the same?

More Information for FEL-PRO OS30697R
More Information for VICTOR REINZ OS32244
More Information for DNJ ENGINE COMPONENTS PG411

I see some use sealer but some gasket brands say they are to be installed dry. The gaskets look like rubber embossed steel so shouldn't need sealer. I'm surprised that with two machined surfaces and an embossed rubber gasket it ever leaks. There must be a design flaw somewhere.

 

Did you get it working? Was there a gasket or o-ring on the oil pump pickup?

 

I used Black gasket sealer as a "Just in case" precaution. It's been a year now and still bone dry

 

Can't remember if I sent those photos for the oil pan removal tool or not so I sent or re-sent them again--good luck!

 

Have not been able to get back under it again. The more I think about it the more I think that it is the oring seal around the base of the flange on the oil pickup tube.

Going to buy one this week and try to get back in next Saturday. I'll try to take some pics and post next weekend.

 

Removed the pan again on Saturday and found that the oil pick up tube was not properly seated when I tightened it up the first time. It's tricky because you have to put it up loose in the pan and leave the pan hanging down while you attempt to insert the two bolts and the strap mounting nut. It's easy to get it slightly skew and not seated since you can barely work with two fingers and wrenches through the wheel well.
This time I cut off a few areas of the pan to clear the cat and the transfer case mounting bolt. I fastened up the oil tube with a new o'ring nice and tight. The pan popped up and in and all was well. I sealed the new gasket with some white silicon sealer. All is good so far.....

Sorry no pictures but I was working in a tight space and lighting was poor.

Soooooo glad I'm done.

 

Hey Dave, do you think the o-ring in the picture below is for the pick up tube?

 

No its not. Its a washer for the Drain Plug.

I had to get the o'ring from the dealer. Came out to about $5.

Dave

 

Hi All,

I am planning on taking on the Oil Pan and would be very appreciative if someone could send me a pic of the modified tool used to remove the hidden bolt. apate007@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance!

 

dont ever do that, no need. I just work the pan to the side after geeting the back dropped from between the t case. Then work it past the pickup at the rear where theres internal pan room.

 

Any way you can send over a picture of the wrench? I'm getting ready to work on mine Saturday/Sunday. I don't want to get too ambitious and over do it with my bend. Thanks!

Jeff
jeff.martin.az@gmail.com

 

I'm about ready to attack the pan gasket. I've got two distributor wrenches but want another that's clocked a bit different than these two. The wrench is on the nasty bolt. It's a 1/2" but it fits the bolt good.

 

The transfer case bolt needs to be out. I took the picture after I put the transfer case bolt back in. I did remove some metal along the transfer case bolt boss, it opens up the area between the bolt boss and the oil pan.

I think I could get the bolt out with the two wrenches but it would go better if I had another that was clocked a bit different. So I'm going to get a couple more.

 

Can someone email me the photo guide as well

silkyswag@gmail.com

 

OK, fellas, I just finished this nasty-*** job yesterday. I want to begin by thanking all of you who shared info on this forum. It was literally the print outs of this thread that gave me the confidence to try this. I'm going to share a few things I learned along the way that should help many of you.

I'm not going to really go in any certain order, but there were many important details that rookies, such as myself, would have really enjoyed knowing about before beginning.

1. Remove the exhaust elbow. It's really not a big job. Just three bolts and a little WD40. This gave me so much more room to move around.

2. Do the bent-wrench tool if you can. We did this initially. I'm including a picture of what we, my father and I, did. It would have worked if it weren't for the fact my 15th bolt was tightened in such a way as to not let me get the open end at the right angle. I was afraid of stripping it, so we went the drill route. One thing we did others didn't mention was make a second bend. The initial at the head was good, but I had no leverage. I made the second bend back to straighten out the wrench, and this was much better. This is time consuming...don't kid yourself. You don't want to toss it into a water bucket to cool it off either. This could weaken the steel. Just let it cool naturally and go inside to watch some TV for 20-30 minutes between each bend. Again, this would have been our first choice if we had been able to get the right angle on the bolt.

3. Drilling out the transfer case bracket sucks, but it will in no way compromise anything mechanically. One thing many forgot to say was to remove the bolt. Honestly, I wasn't sure how you could do it otherwise, but nobody said anything about this. Probably common knowledge to mechanics, but not to me. Anyway, I ended up taking a big piece out and smoothing it all off with a grinder. I have a picture below of the final hole with the bolt re-inserted at the end. Should have taken one earlier, but I forgot.

4. There is really no way to jimmy the pan out of there unless the brass oil pump gadget inside the pan is removed. I'm sure some of you were able to do it, but I explored every possibility and couldn't find a way. Once the pan is free, you should be able to drop it down a good inch or so to clear space to look inside the pan. You'll clearly see this pump thing. There are three bolts...(2) #8's and (1) #10. We removed the two #8's but the #10 started to strip. Definitely didn't want to screw it up any more. These were very soft brass-type pieces. Originally my hole to reach the last bolt was simply a 1" hole. Drilled it out with a drill bit rather than a hole bit. Much faster I think. Anyway, it was at this time I decided I'd better find another way to get the pan off. I explored the transfer case completely and saw that sucker was held in place in multiple locations. I could have completely left out that bolt I'd removed to drill throught he bracket and nothing would have mattered. I finally ended up cutting all the way through to make the semi-circle shape you see in the picture. After doing this, the pan dropped right down.

5. You definitely want to grind/cut off those corners and nubs everyone describes above. Makes re-inserting a breeze. Also, whomever mentioned using the zip-ties to hold the gasket in place is a genius. Great idea!

Overall, it took me nearly 9 hours with small breaks and wait time for the tool to cool. If I had to do it all over again now, I could probably finish the full job in about three hours. It's possible, but at times I wondered of the $1000+ retail price tag may have been worth it! Thanks again to everybody here. Saved me a ton, and I learned a lot along the way. Please email me at jeff.martin.az@gmail.com if you have any specific questions I may be able to help with. Hope the pictures help!

Jeff

https://copy.com/u9BdQrXgmkQs TOOL
https://copy.com/ebi6AxJ37JGd HOLE DRILLED TO ACCESS LAST BOLT
https://copy.com/lz4mwiTbrJBn MY "AFTER" PICTURE

 

I am about to start the pan gasket job...not the pickup tube...and I'm just scared witless.
A photograph of the torched and bent tool that someone used to successfully remove that one engine oil pan bolt that no one can reach on V-6 X-Types. There are a million forums on the subject, but the people who made the special tools were only almost successful in getting that bolt removed and saving several days of work, apparently, when you read all their comments to the end.

 

I made that tool and was sucessful at getting at the bolt. Perhaps the bolt head was in the perfect position for a bite of the wrench. I removed the LH cat converter allowing for the pan to drop and did not need to remove the oil pump and do all that grinding they refer to. I also used Black gasket sealer with the new gasket. Good luck

 

I never did the job. The pan leaks but over the last year the level went down about 1/2 qt. (I use Amsoil and change once a year.) One thing that concerned me is that some said they had to cut the bolt off - that there wasn't room to screw it all the way out. It was replaced with a shorter bolt.

My plan had been to take that one out first.

I think I'm going to rebuild a viscous coupling transfer case for our car and then when I have the transfer case out it I'll do the pan gasket.