Oil pan leak hack

[stuartrubin]

Since I've had my 75 Spider, I have a had a small oil leak coming from the oil pan seal. My mechanic believes that the previous owner over-tightened the pan and cracked the gasket. I took a look under and it appears that he used an RTV (or similar) "gasket maker" either entirely or to help out a cut gasket. You can easily see where the RTV is "stringy" coming out of the seal on top of the oil pan. I believe there are four discrete leak spots.

My mechanic also informed me that to replace the oil pan gasket, a partial engine pull would be required. (1) Is that true?

(2) I would like to try a hack job repair with an RTV gasket sealer such as "The Right Stuff". My uncle (a lifelong old timer amateur grease monkey) recommended just cleaning the pan and "caulking" it up. I was wondering what people thought of this: I can't remove the pan, but maybe I can loosen all the bolts, "caulk" the seal with the RTV, then tighten them back up. Which would be better / lower risk: just put on the RTV or do the loosen/seal/tighten trick?

(3) Best sealer to try - Permatex "Right Stuff" Black? Blue? Copper?

Any other tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks as always!

Stuart

PS. 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky for two days in a row in Cleveland! PERFECT driving weather!

[TX82FIAT]

This might help.

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/2Loilpan.htm

I have heard stories of folks jacking up the engine to support it from the top, removing the cross member, and then removing the pan.

[seabeelt]

You don't need to fully remove the pan to replace the gasket, unless of course you want to inspect the flange of the pan for those over tighten dimples. If you drop the pan onto the cross member you can pull the old gasket off. The new one will stretch around the pan if you get the rubber one ( highly recommended).
R/

[stuartrubin]

TX82FIAT, thanks for the link. It sounds like a heck of a lot of work for a few, eh hem, drops of oil, but you never know.

Seabeelt, if my RTV hack doesn't work, then I will give an in situ gasket replacement a shot. My main concern is that I'm still a little skittish about jacking up the car that much to be able to do the work. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I don't want a permanent imprint of an oil pan on my face!

Stuart

[bobplyler]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I don't want a permanent imprint of an oil pan on my face!

You don't have to worry about that. Unless you jack up the engine or drop the crossmember, the oil pan can't be dropped.

[djape1977]

release engine mounts from the block, jack up the engine as far as it will go, remove the oil pan. it can be done

[baltobernie]

If you have an oil pan removed, it is a good idea to reform the hole dimples before re-installation. Place the small end of a ball peen hammer centered on the hole (on the inside, i.e. mating surface) and tap with another hammer to restore the dimple. Torque spec for the pan bolts is only 7 ft. lbs. The dimple helps ensure you get no leaks around the bolt hole.

[stuartrubin]

Thanks everybody for the tips. After failing to seal things up myself with RTV, I ended up taking it to the mechanic. In his words, it was a real pain in the a$$. Nonetheless, he was happy to take my money, and jacked the car up, lifted the engine, and replaced the seal.

It turns out that there were several other leaky spots - oil pressure switch, dip stick tube, and maybe another THE FIRST TIME.

That definitely helped, but things still leaked a little. Brought it back to the mechanic and he found what is apparently a leak from just about every gasket you could imagine! Based on the visible quality of original oil-pan gasket, it appears that the previous owner who had just rebuilt the engine just didn't do gaskets correctly...

So, I went from about a tablespoon of oil to a teaspoon, and I'm just going to have to live with it until I win the lottery.

Happy driving.

[djape1977]

that's typical old fiat...

when i rebuild engines, i always run them on a test bench before installing them into car. each and every one develops some leaks and i adress the problem when it's easy to get to...

[stuartrubin]

djape1977, that sounds like fantastic advice. I doubt I'll ever rebuild THIS engine, and maybe none other, so I don't know how practical it would be.

As an Electrical Engineer we build test rigs which sound pretty analogous to your engine tester. I'm having a hard time visualizing it, since to me there just seems like an infinite number of highly controlled ins and outs, but I'd LOVE to see one someday!

Stuart

[djape1977]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goFnXgYtWm4

[stuartrubin]

djape1977, thanks for posting that link. Very cool.