I have a 95' Bronco with a 351, and there is some rust on the oil pan that has been spreading, i guess im going to have to bite the bullet and change it. Is is very hard? i was looking under the truck and i dont see how you can change it with out removing the engine. I am not very experienced with engines so i doubt i can do it my self. Does ny one have some pics of how you do it, or how much you would expect to pay at a garage? Thanks

 

You can change it from underneath, but it's a PITA. You have to unbolt the engine mounts, disconnect the exhaust at the manifolds and slide it back as far as it will go, unhooking it from all the hangers helps.

Jack or lift the front of the engine as high as it will go. if you jack it, do it from the damper, NOT the pulley. Remove all the oil pan bolts and let it rest on the crossmember.

Remove the oil pump screen and the oil pump. Let them fall into the pan. Slide the pan out the back. You may need to turn the crank over to clear the counter weights on the crank.

At this time, it is recommended that you replace the oil pump and at least clean the screen if not get a new one. It's just peace of mind for $50.

Place all the new parts in the new oil pan and slide it back under the engine.


As most repair manaul say: Installation is the reverse of removal.

Most mechanics will want to pull the engine, but ask around. You may find one that will do it in the truck.

Hint: Buy your own parts, take them to the mechanic when you drop off you truck. You will avoid the dreaded mark up on parts. Your mechanic may even like the idea of you bringing the parts. It lets him work instead of calling and waiting for parts, or going to get them himself. If your mech does not want you to get the parts, find someone else. I was qouted $240 at one place and $180 at the other. Guess which I used. One place was $30/hr and the other was $40/hr. The estimate was 6 hours labor in both cases.

Just my $.02,

Good Luck.

 

As fishin1976 said, jack the motor from the balancer.

I tried lifting with a floor jack at the pan and blocking the motor with wood....didn't work!

Before you do anything though, you need to unbolt the tranny at the X-member, and unbolt the linkage from the frame. Raise the tranny enough to place a 1x4 piece of wood between the mount studs and X-member and lower tranny onto the wood. This places the tranny at the right angle and keeps it from sliding forward. Without doing this the pan gets caught on the tranny and the X-member, making it impossible to remove the pan. I read a post by luke_trash that outlined this method and it worked great after fighting it the other way (Thanks luke!).

Now remove the upper intake and raise the motor with a bottle jack at the balancer. You now have enough room to do as fishin1976 said.

When I reinstalled the new pan gasket I did it differently than most would have, but was very easy and sealed good. I cleaned the block surface with brake cleaner. Then I attached the gasket with all the pan bolts to the block. Then I removed 2 or 3 bolts at a time as I applied permatex to the block and sealed the gasket as I went. By the time you have all the bolts removed the gasket is sealed to the block and will not fall off or become a pain to start the bolts. You just simply put the pan up to the block and add the bolts. Simple. I tried juggling the gasket and the pan without the help of the sealer...not so simple.

If you haven't done much work on the truck in the past it may very well be worth it to you to pay someone else. BTW, I have heard of some shops charging as much as $400 (I think they pulled the motor). Also some shops leave the motor but pull the tranny to do this.

 

This sounds like more than i want to tackle, thanks for all the help!