Thread: Oil pan and gasket change

I've been procrastinating on changing my oil pan gasket and oil pan (previous maintenance not using a 2x4 under the pan) but every time i get under there im stuck with the fact that i have to do more than just the pan bolts. Looks like i have to drop the fwd subframe. Any suggestions on how I could do this in a much simple way?

You'll have to remove a couple of accessories, undo the motor mount, jack up the motor, then is fun finagling the pan off. There's a writeup somewhere I believe.

Really? I just changed both the engine and tranny mount last week, wish i wouldve thought of doing it. So, if i unbolt the tranny & motor mounts (and obviously the dogbone mounts) Im good from there? just lift the motor a lil, unbolt the pan bolts and the Oil Pan slides right out???

dont undo the tranny mount... take the motor mount out. and then you need to take out the black bracket for the mount and move it out of the way.

Ok, so take the motor mount itself out.
The motor mount housing is welded to the frame, so u must be talking about the bracket thats near the oil filter(well parallel to it)
So after i take this bracket off, the oil pan would be clear to drop after i remove pan bolts?

you also need to support the engine from up top lower the sub frame, the engine motor mount bracket is bolted to the block, its U shaped, its the part the motor mount bolts to on the engine.

theres a few write ups in the how to section, its a pain in the ass to do really, but not impossible to do.

found one.. http://www.grandprixforums.net/oil-p...ell-55746.html

I thank yal, as much work i've done and the space i have (two car garage) i still make take it to a repair shop. i just hate paying them to do something i know i can do (and their price gone be crazy expensive) but im being lazy with this one. might sit this one out, cough up the money, and save me the headache.

people have also cleaned the living daylights out of the pan to block area real good, ( brake cleaner and rags) and smeared rtv over the gasket edge, sealing the pan to the block. you cant get to the pulley side all the way but you can get to the rest.

also have a good look at the valve cover gaskets, i thought my pan was leaking for sure and it turned out to be the rear cover leaking, pretty bad too i may add. i had oil dripping off both sides of the tranny pan, and the engine oil pan. oil every where.

and to check the rear main take the inspection cover off and with a flashlight look up for oil past the pan. between the flex plate and the engine.

get your self 2 cans of engine de greaser and clean it all up first, after its dry i took brake cleaner and with the car on ramps sprayed and wiped everything down, pan to heads, starter, the whole 9 yards. then kept a close eye on it for a few days, after it was all clean and a day later i could see the oil running down the block to the pan from only one area and knew it was the cover leaking. its crazy how it just travels everywhere over time.

Damn......I had a feeing my rack n pinion was leaking from the seals or somewhere bc the rack boot always had oil on it(whick also made me think the valve cover gasket may be leaking as u mentioned)....

This stuff could get aggitating, but if u want a good running car you have to take care of it.....LOL....or should i say cater to it

Bout to go H.A.M.[IMG][/IMG]

and..once you do the pan gasket and it appears to be leaking at the passenger end. Don't touch it. That's the rear engine cover. When you pull the engine or trans, that's when you fix it.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

and..once you do the pan gasket and it appears to be leaking at the passenger end. Don't touch it. That's the rear engine cover. When you pull the engine or trans, that's when you fix it.

Thanx, ive been on that issue for a while....My motor has been rebuilt completely so I never had this problem, Thankfully.....Though GM kept sending me the TBS notices for that issue, i finally took it to them but they said to come back if ever needed bc my cover and everything else was in pretty good shape.....

But, on the other hand, my LS motor has never been rebuilt(106k miles) still running strong but ill keep my eyes on the LS just in case....

Good looking Bill, you guys on here really take care of eachother......

Sorry, I didn't say rear valve cover. Rear engine cover.

See the flex is off and the engine cover that has the rear main in it is missing. That has a gasket to the back of the motor. The bolts are in with very little torque, no locktite and commonly loosen up. Higher mileage motors experience a slow seep of oil and constantly moist oil pan with only one or two drops a night of oil. That is typical for the rear engine cover.

Good info......

Originally Posted by Dee23

Good info......

Well....yeah..

Originally Posted by Dee23

Bout to go H.A.M.[IMG][/IMG]

Hey dee23 where did you get your oil pan from?

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RockAuto....its the doorman brand and the gasket which comes with the windage tray is Felpro

Ok cool. I'm trying to figure out if the one zzp sells is the dorman one also......

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I don't think it is, but they do sell some doorman products I believe. Compare ZZPs part number to the oil pan on RockAuto or the doorman website and see if they're the same. Better yet, I wouldn't bother with ZZPs oil pan. For one, they don't use a real part number(not comparable to others anyway), its more expensive than the one at RockAuto(and its the same thing), and you can't use the magnet drain plug with it.