In the process of draining old oil and before putting in fresh I dropped the oil pan and replaced the gaskets. i had some trouble with the semicircular gasket at the rear of the oil pan. It almost seemed like it was a little too long but I did not cut it. After I put it in now it leaks oil at the rear part of the oil pan. I plan to remove the oil pan again and get it to seal properly.

Is ther any trick to getting the rear oil pan gasket to seal well? I may trim it a little and or use some of silicone sealant that I used instead of the cork gaskets for the intake manifold.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Try this. Get some rubber cement and put a thin coat on the clean pan groove, and a thin coat on the gasket. Let it dry for 10 minutes or so, then press the gasket on the pan groove with the bolts in the holes. Use your thumbs to get it to really stick good before putting the pan back on the car.

 

I tried the rubber cement fitting the gasket to the pan. After I got it all back together it was still leaking. Last week I pulled the pan again (third time is the charm). I noticed that the semi-circular gaskets that seal the bottom of the crank had shifted and were a little chewed up since they did not seat in the groove on the bottom of the engine properly. The problem was not with the cork gasket but the rubber type semi circular gaskets. Correct me if I'm wrong are they are called main seals?

I also did have to trim them. since they were too long, they bauckled when but in place and just didn't fit. It was too late (6PM) to go the auto parts store to get new ones.

Finally what I found that to get them to seal best it worked better to seat the gasket or seal to the lower part of the engine rather than to the oil pan. I used high temp silicone gasket material. Although another mechanic friend of mine said he did not like to use the silicone because he is always concerned that a piece of it will come loose, get sucked up through the oil pump and somehow find a way to find some small orfice to block.

 

Once you get the old gasket off, and free from any oil residue, apply some contact cement to the gasket and the ridge on the oil pan. Let it sit for about 30 minutes apart, then press them together. Others use 3M gasket cement that works well too, Just don't use cork gaskets. If your problem is with the main bearing gasket, I suggest you take it to a shop to have it replaced.

 

These are not your main seals. The main seals are on the crank...or in the circus.

I use high temp silicon on the entire pan gasket and have never had a leak or a problem. Just use enough to keep things in place and produce a good seal. I've also noticed the rear pan gasket is usually the wrong size. I trim it as needed and use silicon to seal the edges and to hold it in place. Be sure not to use too much torque when tightening the fasteners. As added insurance, you can place a bead of silicone at the rear of the pan covering this same area. The oil here is not under pressure.

 

I just got through putting a new set of gaskets on. My rebuild manual noted that when installing the two rubber gaskets that you're talking about, the front one will be slightly longer than the rear one. This was the case on mine (289). Starting at the rear, I grabbed one of the gaskets and started pressing it in the grove on the main bearing cap and found it to be (roughly) between a 1/16 and 1/8 inch too long. I took it back out and tried it on the front (timing chain cover) and it fit like a charm. Then took the other gasket and it fit on the back as pretty as you please. I followed the directions in the rebuild manual and only applied sealer at the tip ends where the rubber gasket meets the cork side gasket.

...however, on a side note, I don't have the engine back in the car and running yet, so not sure how well a job I did.

 

-DrBob

Do yourself a favor and shell out the 50 bucks for the one-piece Fel Pro oil pan gasket. IT has metal core and the semicircular sections are part of the rest of the gasket (It truly is one piece) That will save you a ton of problems. Its the only way to go ill never use anything other than the blue metal core gaskets from FelPro if it is at all possible.

Gun

 

Yep, when I stopped by Summit the other day to get the gaskets, the guy asked me if I wanted the one piece gasket instead of the four piece set and I said sure ...

Then he said, oh wait, we're out of stock on those...[:@]