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Symptom: oil leak progressively worse from rear of oil pan with drops on floor
Diagnosis: 95% sure it was the oil pan gasket; 5% chance rear main seal
Last Repair: replaced oil pan gasket at 63,000 miles / 12 years ago myself; used "gobs" of red RTV silicone on corners
Tear down: revealed that oil pan gasket was "pinched" at rear of block during original installation. As shown in photos below seal was not installed properly
Next steps: clean oil pan & reinstall using Silastic (Dow Corning) 730 with "velour roller" + very carefully check seal placement at rear
The dental floss trick worked ver well for me, although that doesnt have anything to do with the end of the gasket that failed to stay in position. For that I may have used some gasket adhesive or something, but cant recall for sure.
I recently used the Michael Mount trick... putting oil on both surfaces so the gasket can "move around" a little bit while it's being torqued up. So far, so good!
I always rub my finger a cross the seal points of the pan and engine with oil to allow the gasket to move while being torqued. Allowing movement means the gasket will fall into place.
I do not use any sealant.
09-01-2014, 04:03 PM
How ~not~ to install oil pan gasket
although that doesnt have anything to do with the end of the gasket that failed to stay in position. For that I may have used some gasket adhesive or something, but cant recall for sure.
