6mil928

I've got an oil leak that has been getting gradually worse. I installed new tires yesterday and decided to check the bolts on the pan that I could reach. Of the 6 I checked they were all loose at least a turn. Got a couple of questions. Do these bolts back off or was it a PO screw up? Does anyone add locktite to these if they are infact Known to back off? Jason

joejoe

Bolts do back off. I used loctite on mine when motor wasw out for gaskets. You need to get threds clean for it to work well. No leaks for 2+years. Not sure if leak will stop with old gasket though.

marton

The discussion is
Do they back up?
or
does the cork gasket shrink?
If 1. then loctite, if 2 the loctite will not help

The ultimate solution is a silicon gasket & stud kit from a vendor here.
Or like me crawl around underneath every 6 months. If you do this just turn each bolt a bit at a time to avoid crushing the cork and ideally work on opposites rather than going around the ring

Marton

6mil928

Does cork shrink? I know it gets brittle and cracks but didn't know it shrinks. If I pull the pan(best solution but most PITA) it will definately get a rubber gasket from Roger. Just found this yesterday and haven't had time to investigate the cause of the problem. It will be on a lift Sat for a better look.

aggravation

Snug them up and clean the area then go back and check a few days later. You might get lucky but mine was that way and upon removing the pan I could tell it was never going to stop leaking, the old gasket was just too far gone.

Doing the pan gasket (and the motor mounts) wasn't fun at all but finishing it was a very rewarding feeling.

mj1pate

LOTS of posts and information on this. Conventional wisdom is that the bolts back out, therefore, stud kits are available and some have reported that locktighted bolts work well....all when preceded by a new oil pan gasket. OPG and MM replacements are standard fair on all the 70s and 80s MYs. Just finished mine. Not a pretty experience, but necessary.

6mil928

Mike and Craig I agree fully. That was going to be my plan of attack.

6mil928

well got the car on the lift today and all the pan bolts were loose. It is the old cork gasket so it will need to be changed if this doesn't do the trick. Looks like a fun task to change. My leaks are from the pan and the rear cam covers. Roger is working on the cam cover gaskets for me. Oh yea those bolts were loose as well and they had cork gaskets with permatex. PO must have messed with it prior at some time. Anyone know if there is a oil channel that runs through the cam covers? They seem to leak more than I would expect from just incidental oil slinging.

Schocki

The pressure from the bolts and sometimes worn motor mounts puts continous pressure on the gasket. Solution: Talk to Rog100 and get asilicone gasket and if necessary new motor mounts. Lot of wrenching but not really difficult to do.

Below some pictures of my old cork gasket. You can easily see how thick it used to be...

Just saw your question above. Your car should have 16 valve heads. There is no real cam cover, the camshaft and the hydraulic lifters are in one housing. The paper gasket has oil canals. AFAIK

6mil928

How does the motor mounts effect the pan?

Schocki

If your MM are worn the oil pan sits on the cross member. But your 81 has full rubber MM's and should be fine. It only affects the newer hydraulic style MM's.

mj1pate

Replacing the oil pan gasket requires your supporting the engine, with the cross member off and motor mounts still attached to the engine and disengaged from the cross member. This is commonly done by placing jack stands, carefully braced under the MMs. Having an emergency stop a few inches under the engine is a good idea during the whole operation. There are several threads on replacing the OPG by just lowering the OP, leaving the cross member in place. This involves cutting the OPG, and resplicing it. I haven't done it, but others have reported success.

mj1pate

Oh, BTW; does your 16 valver have cam plugs on the back side of the head? Many 32 valve heads including mine, leak like sailors after a night on leave. Replacing those things makes a MM job fell like a simple diversion by comparison. There is a thread going on this topic.

Schocki

To do it without jacks you need a support hoist. Northerntool sells them for around $ 60. Sometimes the ends need to shortened to make it fit.

Bill Ball

Mark the bolt heads and pan with a matching paint mark so you can determine if they are backing out. It's hard to use Loctite after the fact due to the oil on the threads. I tried using Yamabond on the bolt threads as a sealant, but I'm not sure it will work any better in the presence of oil. You could try this at you next oil change as that might make it easier to clean the threads, although it's oil running down the inside walls of the motor, not oil in the pan, that is the problem.