Well, the title says it all. Thought is was a rear main seal but I pulled the inspection cover off the bellhousing and it was dry as a bone. I can see the oil pan gasket sqeezing out and now is dripping. I'm probably gonna have a shop do the work. I would like everyone's opinion on having this work done. I was quoted about 5 hours for the gasket and they also recommended the rod/mains and pump while it was open. It has 137000 on it and is in excellent shape and I plan on keeping this thing for a while.

I also have a cracked exhaust manifold and got a set of summit shorties for it. Broke 1 manifold bolt in the head on each side and of course they are leaking. I don't have time to do any more myself with work and all. So I'll have the shop look at that as well.

I am looking for opinions about what to do now. Should I have the oil pan and exhaust bolts repaired with 137000 on the clock, or should I consider a rebuilt longblock? Maybe gt-40 heads and a torque cam for a little added kick. I'm pretty happy with the stock performance as it is and only rarely (few times a year) tow about 2000 pounds. What I need is a reliable family hauler for the monthly 500 mile trips upstate Pa and Binghamton, NY (read: mountains) area. Pleas help me decide. One of these trips is this comming weekend so I need to decide like yesterday. At the advice of the shop, I am leaning toward just fixing what I have for now. I have the money either way (that is a relative statement) of course the pan/exhaust fix would be easier on the wallet.

Thanks for the opinions everyone.

Brian

edit: Guess it would help if I mentioned it is a 5.0.

 

FIX IT!

Oil pan gaskets on 5 liters have been a known problem. I had to do mine at about 80,000 miles. No problems since.

I wouldn't bother with the mains, rods and pump. My 5 liter just turned 254,000 miles this past week and is still going strong. Has good oil pressure, normal oil consumption and still makes good power.

The book quoted hours most likely includes pulling the upper intake plenum to gain the room to raise the engine far enough to get the oil pan off. This wasn't necessary when I did mine. There was room to raise the motor enough to drop the pump into the pan and pull the pan out. Pretty easy. I think I paid the shop that did mine $275 and it was finished before lunch.

As for long term reliability, mine has been a rock. I use my van primarily to tow my racecar very long distances (3500 lbs of car/trailer plus 800 lbs of equipment). It regularly sees 500 to 1500 mile race weekend tows. Never misses a beat. Just last month, with 250,000+ miles on the odo, I headed out for a 3200 mile tow (1600 miles each way) halfway across the country and back. I never gave reliability a second thought on that trip. I changed the oil before the trip and it used about half a quart.

If you keep it serviced and tuned, it should provide another 100,000 plus reliable miles with no problem.

Incidentally, a low restriction cat and exhaust system works great on these motors. That and a 3.55 gear (don't know what your rear end ratio is) and you should have more than adequate power.

Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT

 

Thanks for the response. That is actually exactly what I wanted to hear and am going to do. My brother in law has an 88 gt 5.0ho that has not been maintained all it's life (I can count the oil changes he has done in the last 4 years on one hand even missing 2 fingers) and is pushing 200k. These seem to be tough motors. This van is not beaten nearly as bad as the 5 oh. Thanks again.

Brian

 

So I decided to attempt the oil pan gasket myself in the driveway. Wound up beeing tougher than I thought but it was a success. I used a multipiece gasket (one piece would probably be better, although much more involved) and did not remove anything except the pan bolts. Dropped the pan a few inches, worked the new gasket pieces into place, siliconed the ends where the gasket pieces met and tightened the pan. There was not enough room to clean the pan, but hey, it worked. It was a major pita but obviously doable. Gasket positioning took the most time but it's done now. Now on to the broken exhaust manifold studs in the head. This should be fun. Wish me luck.

Brian

 

Great. I had forgotten about the two piece gasket option. I didn't have the time to do mine myself when I had it done. Mine was done back in '98 and I don't think the two piece was available then. The two piece became popular since because its such a common problem.

Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT

 

The gasket I used was actually 4 pieces. 2 sides and the front and rear half circle. There are tabs on the side gaskets that fit into the half circles, that's where I siliconed as per the gasket instructions. I was concerned at first about a good seal but everything seems a ok. I could probably do the job in about 2-3 hours now. First time is always the worst.

Brian