Leaking oil pan

[The Devils Own Chariot]

Well my oil pan is leaking just under the rear main area. I just pulled the front diff out and dropped the pan. I installed a new one piece felpro gasket and used gray RTV. everything seals up nice except its leaking even more from the same spot. I think I have a warped or bent pan in that spot. Not sure how it got bent. Maybe from installing the engine 4 times and hitting the front differential. I have thicker H beam rods so a new stock pan needs to be clearanced. What are my best options? Should I get another aftermarket oil pan or should I just get my pan trued up at a machine shop?

 

[Don W.]

Re: Leaking oil pan

Thoughts: Remove the pan and set it on a flat surface and see if there are any gaps. Check carefully between each bolt hole. If any you might be able to straighten it yourself. If it lies flat then unlikely it's the pan IMHO unless its been actually damaged in some manner where it goes over the rear seal. I would then suspect the rear seal or (less likely) the gasket between the seal retainer and the block where it bolts to the block.

Question though, are you applying a dab of RTV (I prefer black) at the joint or corner of the block and rear seal retainer? That should be the only place some sealer is required. Again iIMHO. The one piece gasket should not need sealer anywhere else. Also are you using the steel support/reinforcement that goes between the bolts/studs and the pan? Lastly be careful to not over-torque the fastener's.

 

[The Devils Own Chariot]

Re: Leaking oil pan

Thoughts: Remove the pan and set it on a flat surface and see if there are any gaps. Check carefully between each bolt hole. If any you might be able to straighten it yourself. If it lies flat then unlikely it's the pan IMHO unless its been actually damaged in some manner where it goes over the rear seal. I would then suspect the rear seal or (less likely) the gasket between the seal retainer and the block where it bolts to the block.

Question though, are you applying a dab of RTV (I prefer black) at the joint or corner of the block and rear seal retainer? That should be the only place some sealer is required. Again iIMHO. The one piece gasket should not need sealer anywhere else. Also are you using the steel support/reinforcement that goes between the bolts/studs and the pan? Lastly be careful to not over-torque the fastener's.

Yeah Im using the steel retainers with the pan. Its not the flat spots that leak its the bottom of the curved spot. I used RTV all the way around. Seals up great except for that spot. I didn't get the pan very tight. Just snug. Its suppose to be torqued to 165 inch/lbs. I did not do that I don't have a wrench that goes that low.

 

[Don W.]

Re: Leaking oil pan

Yeah Im using the steel retainers with the pan. Its not the flat spots that leak its the bottom of the curved spot. I used RTV all the way around. Seals up great except for that spot. I didn't get the pan very tight. Just snug. Its suppose to be torqued to 165 inch/lbs. I did not do that I don't have a wrench that goes that low.

If you are SURE it's the "joint" where the curved seal retainer, the block and that corner of the pan all come together then, and I'm guessing, the pan, especially those two corner nuts just aren't tight enough. The one piece gasket it designed with "stops" to prevent over-tightening. You can tell when you come up against them. The nuts will sort-of come to a stop. Pardon the pun.

Another possibility is there is something between the gasket and rear seal retainer that's keeping the pan from from coming up tight against the block and forming a complete seal. You might install the pan the way you've been doing and see if you can push a feeler gauge in-between the pan and the block at the corners. If there's a gap then find out why. If there is no gap then maybe it's not the pan. OR, just popped into my head as I was writing this, there is a crack in the pan at that corner that only opens up when you tighten it down.

Of course there always remains the possibility that you're being "faked out" by a leaky seal.

All I can think of for now...

 

[The Devils Own Chariot]

Re: Leaking oil pan

Thanks for the input. I will report back when I get a chance to work on it.