how about one of those oil pan gasket reinforcement kits- pull the bolts, install the reinforcement kit and retorque.

 

You are missing what myself and others are saying in dropping the whole front end. If you unbolt the 4 13mm strut mount nuts inside the engine bay, unbolt the castor blocks at the rear of the control arms, and unbolt the cross member, the whole front end with the control arms, struts, brakes, steering etc. will come out as one big unit making life much easier then unbolting everything seperately.

 

I could do that with the existing gasket in place without removing the pan??

that would be nice. The one I saw from paragon said you have to get it welded on so I didn't bother.

woulnd't it be risky removing all bolts? probably not as I have a ton of gaskte maker basicly holding the pan.

 

well that kind of sounds tought to pull out from under the car plus much heavier to move around with a jack when you want to put it back together.

I just use jackstands and don't have a lift so I don't have a ton of clearance.

 

I have used this exact method using ordinary jackstands and a floor jack, with zero problems.

 

hmm, well might give that a try if I decide to do this again. I won't have time till May anyways so I'm going to have to decide whether I should do it again or just wait until it actually fails.

those oil pan retaining kits that paragon sells for 100 bucks, I just checked and it looks like it just bolts on.

but i think the oil pan retaing kit would not work now as it probably wouldn't fit with the gasket bulshign otu so far. you can't really push the gasket it as it's glued in place by the gasket maker.

 

As they say in music, if it ain't baroque.... Being on the high side of the pan it may not leak a tremendous amount if/when. Maybe it has stabilized.. It doesn't look like it's leaking from your pics so why not just keep any eye on it. If you park indoors, put a piece of cardboard under the engine so you can see drips more easily... No matter how you go about it, getting everything out of the way to remove the oil pan is a big pain in the *** (in my book). I wouldn't do it unless oil was really leaking.

 

yeah I think that's what I'll do hope whatever is still holding up still holds up...

it's been about 5 months since the oil pan gasket change so maybe it has stabalized?? but it looks like it has split right where teh bolt goes through so half of it should be behind teh bolt still sealing but being so think I'm worried the heat and viration might make it fall apart eventually.

waht I'm going to do is use a caulking gun and squeeze some right stuff, gasket maker and sealer in there to help hold it together.


zero oil leaks at the oil pan right nowI do park indoors and no oil and the engine is still clean. I did however notice a drop of oil around the oil cooler bolts, just a tiny dot.

I'm using synethetic oil also since the oil pan change and no leaks so far.....

using cheap canadian tire full synthetic right now but going to switch to catrol synthec next week so hopefully it'll continue not leaking sig amounts of oil.

hopefully the rest of the oil pan won't bulg out and tear later on as I realy don't like taking the oil pan out again.

 

Yea it won't hurt to reinforce it with some RTV.

 

"probably not as I have a ton of gaskte maker basicly holding the pan."

this is your problem. There should be NO gasket sealer on the oil pan except a small dab in each corner on either side of the oil pump and the rear main. If you put sealer on there itll act as a slippery surface and your seal will slide out from between the pan and block- instead of staying put.

 

i used red gasket maker when mine burst... not uncommon

I en the bolts 2-3 on each side of it squirted the red gasket in and let it set for an hour. then I tightened all the bolts properly and let it set over night.
It has worked and lasted for a year

perfect

minimal effort - great results