Corvid Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 My roommate and I need to replace the oil pan gasket on his 85' EA82 wagon, anybody got any tips, warnings, or thoughts on doing this under the car without pulling the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 (edited) Youre going to have fun Alright, I just did this on Ned (1986 GL Sedan EA82). 1 - Put the car up on jackstands. Remove the bolts from the engine mounts on the crossmember (14mm I believe) 2 - Then take a bottle jack and jack the transmission up as high as you can (disconnect the pitching stopper from the motor - 14mm ratchet and 14mm socket) This will give you some room for the back 6 bolts. 3 - Then an elbow and an extension and I believe a 10mm socket. *lots of patience* its a pain in the neck... If I dont HAVE to, I will not do it in the car again, when its only like a 1 hour process to remove the motor. 4 - You will have to manuever the oil pan off the pick up tube, it wont just drop off. 5 - When doing the gasket, make sure the surface of the motor your putting it on is clean (shouldnt be hard) but the oil pan itself will have a lot of the old gasket on it, which will probably be baked on. Youll need a gasket remover or a razor blade and patience. Make sure to Ultra Gray RTV the new gasket. a thin layer on both sides and the edges. Let it dry. This SHOULD make it far easier to remove if it ever leaks again, but I doubt that it will leak after this. Installation is just the same, but dont tighten the bolts until all of them are started at least half-way... then tighten the corners first and work your way around. Best of luck, if you need more help, let me know. Edited September 2, 2011 by 92_rugby_subie Forgot to add a few things... its complete now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 Star Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 My roommate and I need to replace the oil pan gasket on his 85' EA82 wagon, anybody got any tips, warnings, or thoughts on doing this under the car without pulling the engine? The crossmember that the engine sits on will get in the way of the bolts on the rear of the oil pan. The engine mounts that connect to the crossmember will need to be undone, as well as the stabalizing mount that goes from the bell housing to the rear of the firewall. The engine will need to be jacked up a bit to get clearance to the bolts. Personally I have never changed the gasket while the engine was in the car... might be a headache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 Star Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Haha beat me to it, Rugby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Haha beat me to it, Rugby. Im sorry Ill quit trolling the forums, Im just bored haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 Star Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Nah no worries, you're description of what to do is a lot more descriptive and will help a lot more than mine would Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I did mine out at GDs place after the car slid off the jack and the jack impaled the oil pan so I had to pull it off, and pound out the dents and put RTV on it and put it back on. I just did this like 2-3 weeks ago, so its still fresh in my mind haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 Star Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Ouch... it didn't bend the oil sucker/feed pickup? Is the rtv mandatory??... I think I just put my cork seal on and bolted it down don't wanna have to redo that lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 No, thank god it didnt... I had to pull the dent out though cuz there wasnt much room between the bottom of the pan and the sucker tube. As for RTV - No, its not necessary. But you know the pain in the neck it is to remove the old cork gaskets after the oil/fluid gets in them and the heat cooks it? You dont have that problem when you coat them in RTV... they should be on and off easily after theyve been RTV'd. I was recommended by GD to use it, and now I will recommend it to anyone doing gaskets, except head gaskets, I dont think you use it there... no experience in that part yet. But Ive used it on valve cover gaskets, differential gaskets, oil pan gaskets etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 Star Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Yea I know what you mean lol. I had to wire wheel the pan on my ea81 because the cork was all stuck in the little grooves. The block itself was cleaned and surfaced proffesionally so i didn't have to worry about that. As for head gaskets, you would want to put a coat of copper spray to both sides of the gaskets. Makes them nice and sticky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 +1 it can be done in the car by jacking the engine up. got to get the engine a good few inches up in the air. i don't jack the trans up on XT6's, i unbolt the rear trans mount and "rock" the back of the trans downward while engine is going up. works on an XT6. caution - it'll "look" like it can come off and might creep the idea in your mind that it'll come off without jacking the motor up. don't believe it, it doesn't come off without getting the engine up in the air. second - make absolutely sure the pan needs replaced. many other more common oil leaks get the pan/gasket wet and make people think it's leaking when really it's not or is a small leak in comparison to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvid Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Thanks you guys. It's definitely the oil pan gasket, the previous owner torqued it down wrong and you can see the split spot in the cork gasket. Hopefully it wont be anything worse than that once we get it opened up. If we had a covered garage and a hoist, I'd think about pulling it for this job, but since we'll be doing it with hand tools in an open driveway... it is what it is. The only thing I have a question about is the use of RTV. I've read people who passionately warn against RTV and recommend only anaerobic sealant, and I've also read that plenty of people use RTV and are happy with it. Anyone else want to weigh in on this issue? We've got a few days before we tear into it. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 RTV is by far the most common thing to use. i use anaerobic most of the time but there's nothing wrong with RTV, so i wouldn't worry about it either way too much, particularly on the oil pan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvid Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Ok, finally got done with all the other chaos in our lives, and got down to do this job this morning. Things that came up: 1. It looked like there was an option to try to unbolt the engine mount from the engine, leaving it attached to the crossmember. The easier option looked like unbolting the motor mount from the crossmember and leaving it attached to the engine. I did the later, is that what is recommended? 2. After undoing the nuts on the attachment points for the motor mounts and the tranny mounts, we jacked it up by the tranny, but weren't able to get a lot of vertical play out of it. The motor mount studs never lifted out of the crossmember holes, they just moved forward and a little up. 3. Calculating where the rest of the rear oil pan bolts are, the space I imagine needs to open up, between the crossmember and the back of the oil pan, seems to have power steering (?) lines running through it. Has anyone else had to work around those? That's it for now, until I screw something else up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I wouldn't even bother with a gasket, just use RTV Ultra Grey. Thats what the new ones use, no gasket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Yeah - I've been replacing the gaskets with Permatex Anaerobic - or you can use RTV also but I hate the stuff personally. No issues with leaking or pan gaskets deteriorating. You probably have forgotten to disconnect the pitching stopper on the top of the engine. That will prevent you from jacking it up very far. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvid Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Negative, sorry I forgot to mention, I did take the pitching stopper off first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 yes you did it right with the motor mounts, just remove those 14mm nuts from the crossmember. i think the rear motor mount bolt is inaccessible with the motor in the car - it's between the engine and crossmember and hidden particularyl on the drivers side by the powersteering input shaft. but nonetheless you did the right way, motor mounts always stay on the engine unless there's a compelling reason to remove them. something is keeping the engine from going up - the engine mount studs should come all the way up and out of the crossmember. exhaust still attached? XT6's have a front motor mount too - but i think EA82's don't have that right? try jacking or pulling the motor up, maybe you're pushing too centrally and it's tilting "forward" so to speak while you go up, limiting your range? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvid Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 Ugh. Hidden in plain view. I never even wasted a moments thought on the exhaust needing to be disconnected, and no one actually typed that specific word until now, that I saw. Makes total sense, of course the y-pipe isn't flexible. Now I just have to see whats up with taking that off. The PO "altered" the header flanges to mate up with the other two threaded holes, 90 degrees off from the original two that stripped out. Off to work, I'll report back on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) Ok, finally got done with all the other chaos in our lives, and got down to do this job this morning. Things that came up: 1. It looked like there was an option to try to unbolt the engine mount from the engine, leaving it attached to the crossmember. The easier option looked like unbolting the motor mount from the crossmember and leaving it attached to the engine. I did the later, is that what is recommended? 2. After undoing the nuts on the attachment points for the motor mounts and the tranny mounts, we jacked it up by the tranny, but weren't able to get a lot of vertical play out of it. The motor mount studs never lifted out of the crossmember holes, they just moved forward and a little up. 3. Calculating where the rest of the rear oil pan bolts are, the space I imagine needs to open up, between the crossmember and the back of the oil pan, seems to have power steering (?) lines running through it. Has anyone else had to work around those? That's it for now, until I screw something else up. 1. undoing the nuts on the crossmember is easiest and i recommend that. 2.If you take the bolt out of the pitch bar on the engine side, that will do. you can raise the engine up a bit before undoing the exhaust header, which can be a pain in the arse with stripped threads and old gaskets, so i try to leave it be if it is intact as it is. 3. this job can be done without lifting up the motor. There are 3 holes on the back of the crossmember to access the rear pan bolts. Either with a #3 phillips scredriver, or insert a 1/4" dr extension thru the hole, and then plug your socket yo get them out. #4. the pan will drop, but may hang between the motor mounts, tip it sideways, and don't be afraid to nudge it, as it will fit through. you will have to turn the pan a little to clear the pickup tube, but yes, it can be done this way. i use the cork gasket, and use the permatex ultra grey on the engine side. and be careful to not overtorque and break the bolts or split the gasket. A #3 phillips hand snug is all you will need for tightening. the pil pan bolts are m6x1.00 if you need to replace any(with stripped phillips heads) Edited December 17, 2011 by MilesFox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvid Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 (edited) Sorry about the old thread, but just going through my posts, I realized I never gave a report back on this. I ended up following Miles advice, and I worked out fine. It's a lot of time on your back, and powersteering lines make it even more annoying, but you can follow the advice in this thread and replace your oil pan gasket with the engine in the car. Edited January 18, 2013 by Corvid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinky26 Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 +1 On leaving the engine in place, it is a PITA to get the back bolts in and out. At least on the EA81 anyway, not sure if there is a huge difference to the EA82. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickNakorn Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 All good advice here. I've done the job on my old green machine (EA82 wagon) and the only thing I've noticed that isn't mentioned in this thread is that the heater hoses need to be undone - I forgot when I did the job and managed to split one of them at the heater end. Not only can they be damaged if the engine is lifted, they can prevent you getting the height you need. Also agree entirely about the exhausts - if they're undone it's much easier. I found a 1/4inch drive mini-socket with a UJ in it perfect for getting at those pesky back screws. I'd also tighten from the middle outwards rather than from the corners inwards but, frankly, they should not be hugely tight anyway if you want the gasket to last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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