| Oil Pan Gasket Replacement |
| |
| After putting on the new valve cover gaskets, I noticed that I was still
leaking oil from the engine. Not knowing where it was coming from, I started looking around under the Jeep
and sure enough; it appeared that it was coming out of the oil pan towards the back. I decided that the oil
pan gaskets needed to be replaced.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| After arriving at the garage, I started to disassemble the Jeep to gain
access to the oil pan. The battery was disconnected, the cross brace bar from frame to frame rail was
removed, and then the starter was removed and put on top of the header to get it out of the way.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| A floor jack with some wood on it was placed under the bell housing to help
support it when the motor mounts are loosened. Basically the motor mounts need to be untightened and remain
in the engine block so the oil pan can be removed. This is because there is a lip on the passenger side of
the motor mount connecting to the block that interferes with the oil pan removal.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Now that the oil pan was removed, the old gasket material was scraped off of
it and the block itself. The block was wiped down with alcohol and water to get all the oil off the surface
and then the new gasket was held in place with RTV on the block itself. A little more RTV was put on the
oil pan itself and then the installation was the reverse of the removal.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| All the bolts were put back in place and lightly torqued down. You don't need
a lot of torque on these bolts, just enough to keep the pan on and snugged down. Any tremendous amount of
force will cause the oil pan material to bend around the holes and this will cause high and low spots on the
pan that won't allow the seal to seal correctly.
|
| |
| Lessons Learned the Hard Way |
| |
So, my lessons learned here would have to be that having a second set of hands
in doing this really helped out a lot. I had someone help me during this that helped out a lot, thanks Frank!
This really helped to speed up the removal, cleanup, and installation. Let's face it, lying on your back
under the Jeep is great for the first few minutes, but banging your head and getting RTV in your hair should
really be shared between friends.
Also, you don't need a tremendous amount of RTV sealant when you re-install this. You really just need some to
hold the gasket in place. Too much will cause the gasket to slide all over the place when you are torquing down
the bolts. You don't want this gasket to slide around during this process; you just want it to remain in one
place.
|
| |
| Conclusions |
| |
This is a fairly easy process that will give you a better seal on the oil pan
that will hopefully lead to less leaking of the motor. In this case, the oil pan is now not leaking, but there
are leaks from other areas that still need to be investigated. Take your time, don't over tighten the bolts and
you should be all set.
NOTE: See the Hints section on this here
|
