VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 OIL PAN GASKET

Hello, I need to replace my motor mounts and it appears my engine is still leaking a bit of oil. So while i have the engine unbolted from the frame and raised a bit I figured it would be a good time to change the oil pan gasket. All I can tell is the oil pan is wet, I have replaced the valve cover and side cover gaskets. Can anyone tell me...



1) can the oil pan gasket be replaced with the engine in the car?

2) can the rear main seal be replaced at this time also?


I am not sure if the pan will come out, I am not sure how the bottom end looks on the 216.

Thank you

The oil pan can easily be replaced with the engine in the car and the engine does not need to be raised up. It will be necessary to remove the right tie rod on the outter end and to unbolt (4 bolts) the little rear cross member.

You can replace (easily) the lower half of the rear main seal at this time. Some attempt to pull thru an upper seal but can be a real core and after its strectched out it will still leak. I would suggest packing the ends of the old top seal with a blunt object and cutting pieces off from the old lower seal to fill the gap. This was an approved way of fixing the seal leak on the last Oldsmobile 8 cyl engines.

When replacing the oil pan gasket the side gaskets must be stuck up onto the block first and then the end corks inserted into the main bearing caps. Pre-curl the end corks before installing. Sabes a lot of swearing. I uses 4 little studs , insert them into the blaoc, to guide teh pan straight up into place. This helps to prevent the gaskets from slipping.

While the pan is off attach the garden hole to the main oil pipe that feeds the troughs. No uncommon to find a pipe that is plugged up.

TY Very Much For All The Information! I see your in West Allis, I am right next door in New Berlin so...

THANKS NEIGHBOR!

Solodrumer

Handy tip about instlling studs to guide the pan into place Gene. Think I'll make a set up out of half dozen 6" machine screws.
Thanks
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I just sawed the heads of from some cheap 1" cap screws.

I just done my pan. I removed the tierod from the pitman end and swung it to the passenger side. I glued the gasket to the pan and then installed. I was going to make studs like Gene said, but didn't. I got it installed okay. Agreed about forming the front and rear gaskest.

You can remove either end of the long tie rod but the outter is easier to get at.

The correct way to install the pan gasket is to stick the side corks to tne block first. The tabs on the ends of the side corks must slip into the grove in the main bearing caps. The when the end corks are installed they but up against the tab and a complete overlapping seal is made. This can not be done by fastening the gasket to the pan first and an oil leak will result. I use grease to hold the side corks to the block so If I must remove the pan later very little gasket scraping is necessary. Between the grease and the studs they stay in place very well.

You will be having oil leaks.

Don't know about the leaks yet, will be quite awhile before it is on the road. It does run, and haven't seen any leaks yet.
I did put a small dab fo Permatex Ultra Black RTV on each corner. Didn't have the correct procedure for putting it on.

Careful with the RVT. It can get you into trouble. It has a tendency to plug up oil lines, gas lines, ect.

That is great advice & shows that Chevy Nut knows all the old time mechanics tricks.....
We been packing the upper rear main seals this way for years now & it works like a charm with minimal leaks down the road.... just make sure that "blunt object" used to pack the gap is wood or brass.... you don't want to mar that nice shiny smoothed seal surface with a hunk of steel .

Thank you, friend.....

Well now that i have the oil pan off, im wondering if i bother with the rear main.... how can i tell if its leaking? should i just do it anyways or do I let it be!?

Dose Anyone Know If There Is Some Sort Of Clip To Hold The Screen For The Oil Pickup On?

Yes, there should be a wire (group 1.665 spring 5 1/2 long 839156) that presses the screen into the oil pickup. You should see a crease in the screen where it used to run. It might be loose in one of the troughs of the oil pan or in the sump.

I'm sure by now you have the screen back in and the pan on, but for anyone with the same question down the road: http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/129135083/large
DG

I read somewhere that overtightened oil pan screws can bend the oil pan at the site where a screw is attached. This may lead to future leaks. So I always do a careful visual inspection of each screw hole to see that the area around each hole is flat and not bent up wards. If it is bent I hammer it back to its original flat position. Good luck, Mike

I just finished installing the oil pan gaskets with the engine out of the car and turned over (oil pan up). So I would like to add to Gene's above comments. I was surprised that the cork was about an 1/8th to 1/4 inch too short. I had purchased the gaskets from Chevy's of the 40s so knew I had a good product. This should have been an easy install with everything so easy to get to and put into place. I started by putting one end of the gasket on top of the side gasket then trying to get it to set into its groove. But this even seemed to be a problem, the gasket seemed to be to wide. I changed techniques and lined the gasket up with the bearing cap inner edge in the corner then used a large round edge on a punch (1/4 inch in diameter)to force it flat into its groove. I worked slowly from one corner to the other. Things were now going well but the gasket was still too short. I started over several times and began to notice that the gasket was stretching so that on my fourth or fifth attempt it finally aligned tightly on the side gaskets. I did things a little different on my second end gasket, I played with the gasket trying to stretch it a little before installing it ("precurling it," as Gene said). This sped the process up and on my third attempt I had the gasket tight against the side ones. The side gaskets were now so tight that they needed a slight pull to release them. I put a small amount of gasket sealer on both ends of each side gasket and carefully forced them back under the end gaskets and then began the process of gradually seating the oil pan onto the block. Lots of small tightening of bolts and screws to gradually draw everything into place.

At this point I am in even greater admiration of the guys that do this with the engine in their vehicles, and even of the fact I had done it that way the last time I had put a new gasket on my oil pan 5 years ago (that only leaked a little in the corners). Probably caused by not stretching the gasket enough to tightly seal each corner, even with using sealant in the corners. In the past I had also used a dab of superglue, every so many inches, to keep the gasket suspended while working on the end gaskets and placing the oil pan in place. Good luck, Mike

My experiance with "new-modern" gaskets was just the opposite. The end corks were too long and too wide.
The old origial cork gaskets would fit like a glove (if the cork was not shrunk)....if it was I would soak them in water for a bit.

I have gone through the oil pan gasket replacement task twice and have read the 1937 shop manual section reference to checking the oil pan. In that section they refer to three gauges: oil nozzle depth gauge, oil trough gauge and oil pan target gauge.

I understand that misalignment of the oil nozzles can lead to a bad day. Is there a source for these gauges? I think I may be lucky so far or maybe in for a surprise. Some time ago I replaced the pan with new old stock version. I did check the flow with a garden hose as recommended at that time.

This topic has been discussed in previous posts. Please do an advanced search under the term gauges. Search the time period newer than one year and older than one week, and use the 1937-42 Forum. Lots of good info. Good luck, Mike

Thanks Mike.

I have changed a lot of Oil pan gaskets in the 42-48 cars and have had no problem There is no need to remove any tie rod ends simply unbolt pan and it drops down enough to clear the crank.As for the rear main seal you can also fix that at the same time upper and lower if you have the right tools. I used a tool called a sneaky-pete it was only $12.00 US and it made it so easy to slide in the new upper rear main seal . Sneaky Pete tool
After replacing rear main seal and sticking the gaskets to the block make sure to put a dab of silicone in the corners where the gaskets meet.

I'm about ready to install a new oil pan gasket, with the engine on a stand (oil pan up). Can I get a few more tips from a few that have done this on the engine stand?

To add to my post above, in my felpro full gasket set i got a total of three side gaskets for the oil pan and 2 of them seem too long, they bunch up if I try to line up the holes in the block with the holes in the gaskets.???

Any tips

The 1940-1954 used the same oil pan gasket - can't figure why there are three side gaskets.
The side gaskets must be installed first and then the end corks because the side gasket fits under the end of the side corks.

I second that ... I have never had to remove the tie rods.Yes and while it is off do the rear main seal. The sneaky pete is the way to gol. Great tool and it just works. I will say this it is much easier to remove the oil pan gasket when it is on a lift. Doing it in the drive way on your back really sucks.

Great, Im just now going to tackle the oil pan, great Idea with the 4 bolt studs

Thank you I will do that