After reading the thread about this from stevis05, BRUTAL and bmc, I am going to do mine. I thought I would do the hole saw trick and use all the tips given in this thread earlier. I am wondering if anything new comes to mind. Mine is a 2004 2.5 manual and I did order the FEL-PRO gasket. I am hoping after this I can use syn oil. Can any one tell me if their fix is still working and do you lay the silver gasket sealer on the pan and on the top of the gasket so that all surfaces are coated. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank-you for all your advice and tips on this forum. I love the car and this forum makes it alot easier to own a cat.

 

i used gasket sealer for trannys, calles perma-tex ultra grey. its for trannies that have high torque, better heat and oil resistance than regular black or blue. my theory was x-type compression ratio is 10.5-1, which is higher then most cars. over a year later and still no leaks. if you want a few pics then search for my thread called "long awaited pics". good luck to you and yeah its a hack method but its YOUR car and ignore the s--t that theyll talk to you after you do it. haha -stevis05

 

Ive used sealant and none. mostly none and never have reoccurring leaks. Although for a parts warranty redo that wouldnt be bad either since it doesnt take long and pays 8.80 hours

 

Thanks for the input and the pics, BRUTAL, I read a reply you had about using the GM distributor wrench, I have one of these. I will look at it and see about getting that to work. Thats a good idea. It sure is a **** poor design to have access to a bolt go this way. Thanks again guys!

 

just a warning jay, it takes alot of modification with a torcha dn grinder to get it to work. But once done works like a charm. that is after you pull the 4 bolts from the transfere case to rotate it the neccessary 1/2" it moves away from the pan

 

I did my oil pan this weekend and thought I would report back and say thanks to Steve and BURTAL for their help. First I would say this little task of the oil pan gasket was a lot of work for a oil leak. I have done less work for timing chains on BMW 325, VW Jettas and Nissan Maxima's than this oil pan gasket. I am only a shade tree mechanic with my own cars but I had to worked on this one. I know a lot of it was due to the fact that my car has spent time in MI and PE and the winters rusted anything connected to the exhaust system. The little bolt on the left cat that connects to the pan and trans will not be reconnected, it was rusted so bad, the cat would need to be pulled to fix and re-tap. The bolts on the exhaust union after the elbow were both solid and after cutting still needed to be drilled out. The holes I drilled did not line up on the two pieces and I had to use 5/16 instead of 3/8 bolts. I will be taking the car to the muffler shop and cutting that union out and maybe using stainless there. The pan was a breeze after the chop. It's a shame they did not make the pan a little closer to what was needed in the car. A little thought would have gone a long way here without any loss to the car. After a day and a half of work, I will say, I would do it again to save the money. The Jag Techs earn their money! Thanks again for the help, I appreciate it very much!!!

 

Wow...I must say I am not impressed with the serviceability of those cars...Putting the cats under the car where they belong would have made too much sense...you can then do away with the heat shields that clutter everything.

I did the BRUTAL transfer case twist (Thanks for the tip...) and built a special Jag wrench to get at that stupid bolt...I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out how to get to the transfer case with a short cut...I should have listened to my friend Mitchell and done the procedure, it would have saved time...I finally got tired and took the subframe down and it was a breeze from there...

Did the front crank seal too...Are all those cars leakers? Darn...

Its definitely not a job I would like to do on the floor with jack stands...

 

Great conversation about the oil pan gasket change. I have learned a lot from all your insights about this topic. I hope that all of you would continue to give some tips or tricks for a newbie like me in repairing the vehicle. Thanks!