Well I might already know the answer and not like it....but I replaced the oil pan and gasket(Felpro) on my 95 I-6 and it's leaks! Not just a drop or 2, but a fairly steady drip. My question is how can I fix it without taking it all down and removing the pan and $30 dollar gasket?

Thanks, Chet

 

Were you sure to not overtorque the bolts on the pan? That'll cause it to leak. What type of sealant did you use?

I know how that feels. I replaced the gasket on mine through several not-so-fun hours of work and came back out and it leaked so much worse than before I removed the old rock hard chiseled off gasket, that I had to put in almost two quarts a week to keep oil in it. Finally got around to doing it again, did it right, and it stopped leaking.


Other than that, are you certain it's the oil pan? It may be a rear main seal.

 

Well I think the instructions on the Felpro gasket said that sealent was not required even though most old timers will tell you to use it (My Dad included), so all I used was adhesive to keep the gasket in place

 

Why would you use adhesive? The felpro gasket is supposed to go in DRY.

 

I may go a bit over-board, but I've changed 5 since August, and none of them have leaked. This is how I do it:

Clean every stinking little bit of grit off both the pan rim and the block. Pay close attention to the front and rear where the black piece of the gasket is installed around the crank. Get all the old residue out. Use brake cleaner. If the threads are full of crap, I wire wheel them. Check the pan for debris, and the p/u screen.

I use a high tack, quick drying gasket adhesive and glue the rear piece on around the crank, onto the block. The other three pieces I glue to the pan and let it tack up so they are not sliding around. I also put a drop of super glue on the front black piece, just between the bolt holes, on the outside edge of the gasket to keep it from slipping out if you over tighten one of the bolts a tad.

Then take a calking gun and put a dab of silicone where the black gasket meets the cork, two places in front, and two in the rear. Also put a dab on either side of the pan in the rear, where the sides begins the curve around the crank. Bolt it up by hand with a 1/4" drive ratchet, starting in the center and spiraling out clockwise, applying just little increments of torque at a time. The tightening should take about twenty minutes alone.

It sounds like a lot, but would you rather do it twice?

 

Been there....done that.
Definitely take the extra time to do it right the first time.

 

I can save you a lot of effort the next time you do the job. First off, don't buy the four-piece gasket set. It's worthless IMO and if one of those pieces slides out you're doing it all over again. I used the four-piece once and NEVER AGAIN!!!

Get the blue one-piece gasket by Felpro and you don't have to worry about anything except getting two clean surfaces. No caulk, no silicone, no spending 20 minutes tightening bolts in little increments of torque.

 

I've researched this a dozen times because I'd love to use one.
As far as I've concluded, and have been confirmed by others, when they switched to EFI, they changed the oil pan slighty. The one piece WILL NOT work on carb era oil pans. The width of the back end of the oil pan (the round part around the crank) is somewhere around a 1/2" difference. Older ones are stuck using the crummy 4 piece.

You'd have to switch to an EFI era block to be able to use one.

 

They changed the oil pan or they changed the block? It seems like they would have to change both and I've always thought that the EFI blocks are no different than the carb blocks. I could be wrong though.

 

They changed both IIRC. It's just the slot the gasket goes in that dips down around the crank. It's wider on the older ones so the one piece won't fill the space.
It's one of the few changes, which is why blocks are all interchangeable. You just have to get the correct oil pan for the block.

 

I have used the one piece felpro for 3 of them and every one of them dry,nothing on them and they sealed great.I would use nothing else.It also has steel reinforced bolt holes and comes with 4 special plastic bolt type hangers that hold the pan and gasket just close to the block,while you start your bolts.I tied string through each bolt hole,then cut and pulled the string out as I got each bolt started.Hope that isn't a rear seal leaking that bad.Good luck to you.
I didn't know about the block change,2 of mine were EFI 300'S and 1 a 302 EFI. The others were older 4 pcs type a few yrs back.

 

Curious! Do all of you have the metal bars that go between the bolts and pan to spread the load? That old 240 big block I have has them and I've never seen them on any other engine.

 

Yes I have them on my '89 and my '90 had them too IIRC.

 

Did you guys buy those vehicles used? And if so, are you certain those are not aftermarket pieces?

I've seen them in the parts stores, but not on a oem engine. I can't see the factory installing them, but I could be wrong.

 

If you're talking about the load spreading bars they are factory. Unless two of my trucks both came to me with the same aftermarket part.