ok guys, this will be my first project on the car,
the car is leaking oil, so I took it to a shop and they said its oil pan gasket, and I JUST got a quote from this Firestone shop, and they gave me a quote of 400 + tax. (…fuk that). so I decided to do it my self, the car is already raised on 4 stands, I have the proper jack to do the job, I just have to get the gasket. Other then the preparation, I looked at some threads on how to change the oil pan gasket, and realized the difficulty of the job.
ok so I know I have to take the bolt off the engine mounts, so I can raise the engine to give me some clearance. then take the bolts off the oil pan, and there should be two more 12 mm bolts to take off. <— this is what I read. the guy at the fire stone said, how he has to possibly fiddle around with the exhaust pipe and whatnot, which means, the pipe may have to come down resulting more gasket replacements…i don’t know… but from what I read, it doesn’t involve any exhaust pipe removing work.
I don’t know if I missed out any details. but if i did, please feel free to fill in. and ANY HELPFUL ADVICE guys??
I’ve done this way way way too many times on my s13. I would rather do a head gasket then the oil pan gasket. Not that it is really hard, it is just freakin anoying, dirty and welll… a lil hard. haha
ya, I tried to start on it last night, I got the driver side engine mount bolt from the top side off, then I go on to the passenger side.
sadly I couldn’t even get the ratchet onto the bolt from the top side, cuz of the oil filter.
so Im going to drain the oil and take off the oil filter and try taking it off from the bottom, apprently its easier…then the fun begins
ok so I drained the oil and tried to take off the oil filter, it was on there TIGHT lol, I wish CT was open right about now, but yea, I gave up for the day. Im gonna go to CT tomorrow or something but the filter gripper thing…sigh
i got the oil filter wrench, the one wraps around it and tightens and twists it off, but that fucking thing is one there tight, and i dont have much room to work with so that wrench is uselss, gotta go to ct again…HELP ;p;
i got the oil filter off, then the passenger side engine mounting bolt off, and the driver side bolts for the front stabilizing bar, now I gotta drop the cross member and the LCA
this would be sooo much easier, if i had an impact gun
ya its way harder if you loosen the top ones when i did it i just simply took off the bottom ones and the engine went right up no problems, it probably took me like 30min to raise and pull out the oil pan, just have someone else with you when your raising the engine cause the other person can check for any lines or anything else being pushed out of place. and the pan just slides right out after twisting it even with the sway bar and everything else still on.
that was really easy cause i put on a long extension and put a light pointing inside the mount. and just turned my head around the mount a little but and saw the 1nut. after putting on the ratchet i just stuck a bar on the ratchet grip for more leverage and it turned really easily, but it did slip like 2 times so you really have to be patent. one of mine came off by hand thats how loose it was, i think the previous owner forgot to tighten it. lol
---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:58 PM ----------
by the way how high is your car right now, cuase mine is about 2 feet off the ground all around so that makes it much easier
---------- Post added at 06:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------
ya you can raise the engine, it was just harder to pull them off thats all, putting it on is much easyier then the bottom ones but bottom has easyier access
i just removed i think the bottom 2 bolts on the tranny and that was more than enough room to remove one of the bolts with an extension on the oil pan and the other one i just used a screwdriver style ratchet to put it back on, it looks like a screwdriver {slim} but is a ratchet. it was easier for me cuase i already had the tranny off cause i replaced my clutch so i removed the bolts then. but i put the bolts back in after the tranny was in so it was a little harder. i think that was the hardest part because one of the bolts in the back of the oil pan broke and now there stuck inside the block. i hope it doesn’t leak.
---------- Post added at 06:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:35 PM ----------
and the rest of the bolts you can just come off using a small ratchet when the engine is higher
I had to do this twice, well removing the engine mounts and trans mount. I had to get the sway bar off as well (s14) in order to be able to get the oil pan in and out. The most painful part was getting the collector back on by just feeling.
Just have a peak down from the top and it’ll be easy to locate the engine mounts once you get underneath. I had a 1/2 drive with an extension I used to get at it. Just make sure you’re on there good before you break the nut loose, don’t want to damage those.
I took the engine up as high as it could go. Which is pretty much until you feel the car start to lift. Stop when you feel this.
Also if you’re running a KA and plan to go KA-T then I’d say get a bung on there while it’s out.
the easiest way is to jack up the front end. unbolt the motor mounts and jack up the motor too. drop the cross member and sway bar and have at it. you’ll need to remove the rear transmission braces and then just take out all the bolts that hold the pan in.
It’s easier this way because you can drop the pan straight down instead of trying to slide it around the oil pickup.
Im getting a compact impact gun on friday, and just now, I lifted the engine with no problem. I can get at the oil pan, but the “gussets” (according to the FSM) is in the way of one of the bolts, so I’m trying use a combination of pivoting adapter and extension and deep sockets to get at the bolt. other then that I should be able to remove the oil pan, but maneuvering it out of that space, well ill deal with it when i get there lol
ok the douche-bag from alliston sold the impact gun to someone else, even though I told him im coming to pick it up…fuckin hill billy p.o.s…anyways, now im stranded, im kinda broke for a brand new impact gun.
on the upside of things, I got all 9 bolts off the oil pan, except one, thats being a bitch under tranny brace. so all i have left to do is take the tranny braces off, which is impossible without the impact gun…sad face
ya i removed the oil pick up but it was pretty hard to put back on but i was lucky that there was no bolt on the bottom of the pick up cause apparently some people have 2 bolts holding it in, one at the top and one at the bottom.
hmm I’m almost there, I just bought a 24" breaker bar…that thing works wonders, I got the stabilizer link bolts off with ease, and then the tranny “gussets” plates, ( those things are like fuckin half an inch thick), and more oil pan bolts. I used an exact-o knife to cut the silicone gasket, couldn’t go all the way around. now I need something to shimmy my way in between the block and pan, to pry it off, and hopefully I don’t need to pull the cross member down.
ya its hard puting it on cause the gasket maker keeps on coming off on your arm. and then you have to re apply the gasket maker again where it comes off and its uneven in places so then you have to smooth it out. when your doing it you will notice.
lol damn, I JUST pulled the pan out, and cleaned it out side and inside, all gasket gunk is cleaned off, hopefully the block doesn’t have too much gasket left over to clean up. i think what Im going to do is, put all three sides of the pan, except the front so i can still play around with the oil pickup line, and then when im done with that ill put the rest of the gasket in and bolt it in…let see its as easy as i say lol
