Time needed to change pan gasket

[Frog2Spider]

What’s wondering the best way to remove the oil pan.
1. Lift the engine?
2. Remove the cross member to lower pan?

And also how much time I should expect this job to take, when done by a mechanic?

Thanks,
Dave.

[sleggarg20]

The easy way is probably loosening the motor mounts and lifting the engine enough to slide the pan pass the baffle inside of it.

[SteinOnkel]

Nothing easy about it.

Removing the crossmember takes ages and my suspension is brand new, so I decided to just lift the engine and drop the pan. It's messy and getting the old gasket off is an exercise in patience. You have to walk a plastic scraper around the perimeter of the pan*. The trouble is, even with the engine as high as it will safely go, you're only getting about 3 inches of clearance. There's no way to get it out completely without

a) removing the crossmember
or
b) removing the oil pump pickup

Don't ask me how b) is supposed to be possible.

Either way, it's a terrible job. Be careful not to drop any old gasket material into the pan. Just to be safe, I would run it for a few minutes, then swap the oil filter. I would book at least 4 hours for this job.

*I had the transmission out.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

What’s wondering the best way to remove the oil pan.
1. Lift the engine?
2. Remove the cross member to lower pan?

And also how much time I should expect this job to take, when done by a mechanic?

Thanks,
Dave.

If you just want to change the oil pan gasket and don't mind if it's not a quality job, the answer is about 1 to 2 hours. Raise the car, remove the oil pan bolts, lower the oil pan an inch or so, remove the old gasket, put in a new gasket, raise the oil pan back up, put the bolts back in and tighten to torque, lower the car back down.

However, if you want to clean the oil pan and block surfaces, make sure everything is flat and true, then that is a longer job. At least the better part of a day. You would need to raise the car, remove the oil pan bolts, loosen the engine mount nuts and maybe the exhaust manifold bolts, raise the engine some more, lower the oil pan, begin cursing, very slowly loosen the oil pump and pickup tube bolts so that they can move, slowly work the oil pan off, clean up the block and oil pan mating surfaces, reposition the oil pan and gasket, curse some more, re-tighten the oil pump and pickup bolts, put the oil pan bolts back in and torque, lower the engine, reconnect the engine mounts nuts, lower the car.

Yes, I have done this. No, I do not wish to do it again. The cause was that I had bashed in the oil pan and broken the oil pump pickup snout while attempting 4-wheeling in my Fiat in some remote area of Arizona. Spoiler alert: This is not a good idea. Do not attempt. Professional driver (NOT!) on a closed circuit course. No user serviceable parts inside.

-Bryan

[RRoller123]

Man, it sounds like it would be easier to pull the transmission and the head and remove the short block. LOL

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I think you're probably right. The issue at the time was that I was in school and was doing the work in the campus parking lot. With a small floor jack, I was able to remove the sump to replace the broken oil pump, but pulling the engine would have been difficult with no hoist, only the toolbox I had in the trunk, etc. Not to mention the campus police rolling by every so often...

-Bryan