Oil Pan Removal... TIPS?

[YouGotSpooled]

Alright so Im in the process of removing my oil pan. The pan had a gasket on it, but some of the bolts were over tightened by the previous owner/builder and cracked the gasket so it leaked a very small amount of oil from the front of the pan. But since the car is parked, figured I might as well fix it.

1. Removed all the stuff on top of the engine and upper intake manifold (to put on a new starter) so everything there is out of the way.

2. Un hooked downpipe

3. Disconnected IC pipe on turbo

4. Removed lower motor mount bolts so I could pull it up.

5. Removed the stiffener plates between the bell housing and block.. Along with inspection plate.

6. Removed oil cooler line from pan.

7. Some other stuff I did I probably forgot to put here because Im tired and about to sleep.

So I lifted the engine and brought it up until the transmission hit the tunnel. Removed all the bolts holding on the oil pan and tried to take it out... Tried turning it every was I think is possible, still no luck. I cant get past the transmission. It gets stuck in there where the flywheel is and I need about another 1 to 2 inches to get it out.

I want to get this done so I can move on to other stuff and Id like to take it out to prep it properly. I hate to leave things unfinished so this is going to drive me crazy in the mean time.

Any suggestions or tips?

 

[Nomad707]

its VERY hard to take off the oilpan without pulling the motor entirely.. in fact its easier to pull the motor and do the gasket out of the car.. another way is to drop the subframe which is a bitch imo..

Id just pull the motor.. your already close to pulling it out anyway..

 

[dumbo]

it blows man...just did it in car myself, gotta take the six nuts off the top of the the strut mounts, and three bolts on either side that holds the front crossmember onto the frame/body, front of car has to be on jack stands of course. if you read the tsrm its over kill imo.

having doing it this way i'd do it in car again over pulling engine. i'd say its a push either way

 

[Nomad707]

it blows man...just did it in car myself, gotta take the six nuts off the top of the the strut mounts, and three bolts on either side that holds the front crossmember onto the frame/body, front of car has to be on jack stands of course. if you read the tsrm its over kill imo.

having doing it this way i'd do it in car again over pulling engine. i'd say its a push either way

True.. but he has the motor almost ready to pull already.. including the motor mounts.

 

[dumbo]

True.. but he has the motor almost ready to pull already.. including the motor mounts.

yah you gotta pull them to do it in car too, its only two nuts...

 

[Rennat]

i have a hoist... and a stand... so it would only make sense for ME to pull the engine... i could pull it crazy fast. haha.

i think it depends if you
A) have the room for an engine in your garage
B) have the time to pull the engine
C) trust yourself that you want break anything
D) have the necessary tools to do it

 

[dumbo]

i just dont like f'n with the wiring harness..there old and brittle. you pull the tranny with then i take it? it is nice not being on your back i guess

 

[WhtMa71]

You can leave the wiring harness attached to the motor. Just take out the glove box and disconnect the harness from the ecu and slide it through the firewall. The harness will come out with the motor. And yes, leave the tranny attached to the motor, just remove the shifter.

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=423&highlight=engine+removal+steps

 

[black89t]

for that one. pulling the motor is the only way i would do it. on the car it would be such a hassle. plus you can clean things up while its out.

 

[7Mboost]

I dropped my subframe twice last weekend. With the right tools you can drop the subframe in about 2 hours.

You'll need to support the engine, remove: ps lines, brake lines, lower strut mounts, sway bar end-links, motor mount nuts, engine gullwing mounts. Then loosen the subframe nuts (supporting the subframe with a transmission jack) and slowly lower the subframe. At that point you'll have access to the oil pan, make sure the pan has a flat surface and FIPG the shit out of it, you don't wanna have to do it again.

 

[bmoss85]

ive done it with the engine in the car, its not to bad. just do it whichever way is easiest for you. to me it seems like there is a lot more to disconnect to pull the engine than to drop the subframe.

 

[YouGotSpooled]

So when you say do it with the engine in the car, you mean just clean the pan off while it just sits there with the engine up, not actually take the pan out?

Also, with FIPG how good do you need to prep the pan before putting that stuff on? Any good chemicals to clean off old gasket crap or just scrap the hell out of it fallowed by de-greaser?

What if some of the old gasket materials drops in the pan?

Thanks guys, Id really rather leave it in the car (No engine stand at the moment).

 

[Rennat]

clean the surfaces with a clean rag and some acetone. i used a wirewheel to clean off all of the hold gasket (on the pan) and a razor blade for the block side.

and i would get some degreaser, clean the pan out, then get some brake cleaner and blast the shit out of it. so that way you dont have any left over degreaser in the pan.

 

[easternguy2005]

I dropped the pan today to inspect the oil pump and shim for pressure, replace spring etc.

It wasn't too bad. I would rather do this than pull the engine out even with the turbo off.

Needed to do some suspension work so this was the ideal way to go.

There's just enough room that if you are careful you could regasket it without dropping the subframe. I'm not careful enough.

I used this method -

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38359&highlight=redneck+rod+bearing

 

[92TealSupra]

its VERY hard to take off the oilpan without pulling the motor entirely.. in fact its easier to pull the motor and do the gasket out of the car.. another way is to drop the subframe which is a bitch imo..

Id just pull the motor.. your already close to pulling it out anyway..

+1 Don't attempt without removing the panl.

 

[7Mboost]

So when you say do it with the engine in the car, you mean just clean the pan off while it just sits there with the engine up, not actually take the pan out?

Also, with FIPG how good do you need to prep the pan before putting that stuff on? Any good chemicals to clean off old gasket crap or just scrap the hell out of it fallowed by de-greaser?

What if some of the old gasket materials drops in the pan?

Thanks guys, Id really rather leave it in the car (No engine stand at the moment).

Clean the block surface where the pan sits as well. Yes take the pan off.

To make it easy you could get the pan acid dipped at a machine shop, otherwise just use a wire wheel and razor blade making it flat as possible. Make sure the pan is clean of any oil before applying FIPG.

Don't let any stuff drop in the pan, if so get it out.

 

[omfgitsdonovan]

i beleive when i removed a oil pan from the 7m block i couldnt get it off and it was pissing me off and i beleive there were bolts at the very back of the pan bolted into the rear main i didnt notcie am i correct or am i wrong?

 

[YouGotSpooled]

Got it done. I just lifted the engine, then started scraping away with a razor. I got it scrapped the best I could. I then cleaned it with Acetone to remove any oil residue on the pan/block. I then loaded it up with FIPG and bolted her back up. I see a bit of it squishing out all the way around so I think I should be good.

As far as making sure no small bits of gasket got in the oil pan, I was thinking I should just fill her up with some cheap oil and then drain it. Would this be the best solution?

Thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated. :icon_razz

 

[YouGotSpooled]

i beleive when i removed a oil pan from the 7m block i couldnt get it off and it was pissing me off and i beleive there were bolts at the very back of the pan bolted into the rear main i didnt notcie am i correct or am i wrong?

There are a few bolts at the back of the block (6 I believe). They are blocked by the two stiffener plates from the bell housing to the block and the flywheel inspection cover. They should all be somewhat visible.