Ok, my truck is currently sticking half out my garage at my apartment (they are not large enough for me to fit it in)

Tonight I am attempting to replace the oil pan.

I have done the following:

-undone the two nuts on the transmission crossmember
-undone the two engine mount nuts
-drained engine oil
-drained coolant (replaced the thermostat and a 90 degree water hose tonight)
-jacked at the transmission bellhousing, using a small board piece and my jack..

I THINK it's as high as it wants to go. the engine is not moving upwards anymore.

My oilpan bolts are all out and the pan is freely sitting on the engine crossmember, but there is no way it is coming out.

SO, I need immediate help on how to get it out of the truck.

I need the engine higher, or somehow need to know how to get it off.

The exhaust is in the way for the most part, and there is no getting that off. The studs are rusted too badly, and I'll just snap them off.

So Help please...

I need to drive to work tomorrow.. Not wanting to walk 3 miles each way

Thanks,

Luke

 

Take the oil pump and pickup tube off and drop them in the pan. Then you should be able to slide the pan out.

 

will be out trying, but seems like i'll still have clearance issues.

wish me luck...

 

I have the pump pickup removed, and sitting in the pan.. No dice.. the pan will not move any more than it did before that point.

do I need to have the exhaust removed (or cut) to get the pan off??

 

Also, am curious how you jack from the engine damper safely??

It's quite a ways up there, and I tried jacking a 4x4 but it wouldn't fit between the crossmember and stabilizer bar to get up there..

a 2x4 is too unstable...

So do I absopositively NOT have to remove the exhaust?

I can't see how else the pan will come out without the driver's side exhaust line out of the way...

Then as far as removing exhaust goes, how do I free up the bolts safely? They are pretty nasty looking.

The studs that go to the manifolds are just out of the question for removal without a nut splitter and thread cleanup..

 

I always drop the exhaust. I've tried it without and it isnt worth it.
If the studs break in the manifolds you might have to remove the manifolds to get them out
Some heat with a cutting torch on the nuts usually works and some people have good luck with penetrating oil on the nuts.
A bottle jack between the damper and the crossmember works well. Put blocks of wood under the motor mounts though before you start working on the pan in case the jack slips.

 

You guys make this sound easier than it is

I just typed a REALLY long post, and IE crashed on me, so here's the short version:

-Got the exhaust dropped, BUT it still didnt' come out.
-Went to parts store and rented their cutoff tool and cut the exhaust pipe.. will take it in to be welded up later.

-By magic forces, I got the oil pump off and then again installed the new one blindly. with very cramped quarters

-june bug went in my ear.. and hundreds of other june bugs went elsewhere.. I hate junebugs

I currently have the block all cleaned up and the new pan is sitting there free. new oil pump is bolted up.

I called it quits, as i've had a total of 12 hours sleep in the past 4 days. I have not been this delerious since I detasseled corn when I was 14.

This is hands down the most PITA automotive job I've done in a long time.

Sorry to complain I just ran into a lot of snags. Hopefully it will be done and running tomorrow night. With new oil pump, thermostat, spark plugs, pan, and gasket.

 

If you are actually replacing the oil pan with a new one, once you have the pan sitting on the crossmember , bend the 2 raer ears down, remove the oil pump and pick up, and it slides out. When you replace it, just slide the new pan in and smack it with a rubber mallet and it will pop in, then put the pump and pickup on, slide the new one piece rubber gasket in and bolt it up.

 

Oil pans and gas tanks are 2 of my least favorite jobs. If I never had to do another oil pan again I wouldnt mind

 

once i had things JUST right the pan fell and slid out.

I originally was jacking only at the transmission bellhousing.

I had it topped up.

so of course, what happened was the transmission is following the tunnel, and pulling free of the driveshaft.

Which means everything is closer to the engine crossmember, making the pan impossible to remove.

Then, I saw how far forward the trans had moved (about 3")
and panicked that it would not come back.. so I lowered everything, and luckily it slid back.. so I put like a 2" chunk of wood above the tranny crossmember and let the trans rest on that.

Then, using my motorcycle jack and 2x4s i jacked at the balancer.

things were just right and it came out. b ut like I said, the exhaust was in the way, so I ended up cutting it in one place.

Will splice it together and hopefully have it rewelded at a shop when this is said and done, which will hopefully be TONIGHT after work.

the only tricky part left to do is reinstalling the pickup/screen to the pump, and if I got the pump on, I think I can get this done

people complain about changing the gasket, but that looks like a cake walk at this point.

I should have taken a pic of the rotating assembly after I had it all clean.. it was a beautiful sight.

I however looked like I just came in from a day of working at an oil rig.. man was I dirty 600 dollars at the garage is a fairly decent price for you nonmechanic types.. trust me on that one

 

I just had my oil pump replaced and gasket on a 88 f150 4x4 351W

It cost me only 307$

 

The extra cost for me was 140 for the pan.

they quoted me at something horrible like 5 hours labor for the task.

And I think if I had something as simple as a TWO stall garage, I could have gotten this done more quickly than that

accordign to the service manual, they do the same thing we do, to change the gasket..

but to change the pan, they pull the intake and hoist the engine

 

Luke is scaring me; Oil pan is my next task. Do you think backyard mechanics have the same sort of hormones that women produce after childbirth to make you forget how horrible the last experience was and entice you to try it again? Just wondering...

 

That's a VERY good question. I am currently really sore, and a bit banged up. I feel like i'm in football again..

3 nights of banging around under there. When you think about what all you did though, the job isnt' complicated.. just VERY messy, and time consuming. If you cut the exhaust like I did (probably not the best thing to do) it goes easy.

Also, jack from BOTH the trahsmission and the harmonic balancer.

Jack the transmission up only about 2" above the crossmember and put a block in between the two bolts.

Then jack the harmonic balancer to get the best clearance and proper position for the pan to slide out.

I jacked about 20 different ways to figure this out.

The only time I needed a helper was when I was lowering the engine.. Didn't want to go back into the mounting holes, so I had to use a wedge bar to hold it in place while my girlfriend lowered it in.

warnings:

-Dont jack the engine so high that you pull the PS pump hose off.
-Don't jack the transmission so high that it tops out and follows the tunnel forward (less clearance, and you might pull it off the driveshaft)
-DO plan on ruining your clothes
-DO have a bunch of new cloth shop towels at ready
-DO buy the one piece FelPro gasket with mounting studs. The gasket was the easiest part of this job for me. Took like 2 minutes to install.
-Reccommended: Safety glasses and ear plugs, to keep rust particles out of your eyes and ears.. You look corny, but after being in the hospital twice to have rust dug out of my eyeballs and once in my ear, I value my safety too much.
-Also reccommended, a stocking hat, to keep nastiness out of your hair, and also to act as a padding between your head and the cement or your head and the truck.

But anyway.. if you can fully remove the exhaust, start there.. I wasn't willing to do that by the time I got to that point.

I used a new oil pump (knock on wood) i am getting kind of a ticking sound.. I don't know if it's the oil pump or not.. I have to investigate.. the truck may have ALWAYS made this sound.. Oil pressure is good, so I will drive it for now and keep my fingers crossed.

 

thanks for sharing that storey, when you put it in laymans terms it's easy to fallow. glad it all worked out for you luke