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Batwing oil pan gasket leaking?


Quicksilver98

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Quicksilver98

Last week I notice a few drops of oil on the garage floor and I look under the vette and the whole bottom side of the oil pan is wet. The drops on the floor were directly below the oil filter side of the pan. I was only 40% into my last oil change so I thought maybe got a bad seal on the oil filter or some dirt on the seal. So I got a new filter and removed the old one and cleaned up the mating surface...put a few drops of oil on new seal and put the new filter on. Been keepin an eye on it and havent noticed any more drips but the pan is still wet on the bottom. The car has over 100k miles on it. I was wondering if the gasket on the oil pan is due for replacement. Anyone else have experience with 100k+ mile C5's with similar issue? Its not leaking much because the oil level never goes below about 1/3 qrt low between oil changes.

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Typically it's the upper gasket that leaks not the lower, however if it's just the lower that is silly easy to change and just do it next time your doing an oil change. The upper well...... lol I would try your best to fully clean it drive it for a bit and re check to try and pinpoint if it's the pan gasket or lower one. or perhaps a combo of the sorts.

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Quicksilver98

Typically it's the upper gasket that leaks not the lower, however if it's just the lower that is silly easy to change and just do it next time your doing an oil change. The upper well...... lol I would try your best to fully clean it drive it for a bit and re check to try and pinpoint if it's the pan gasket or lower one. or perhaps a combo of the sorts.

Im pretty sure mine has the one piece oil pan....I was looking when I replaced the filter and didnt see a split in the pan...seems to be one solid piece. Would I need to drop the exhaust down to replace the upper one? Pretty close quarters in there. I think I will pressure wash it and clean it up good so I can see where the heck its coming from. Thanks Casey

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We've had a little seepage on our 01 coupe .... but appears to be coming from the front seal .... over time, it would appear to be the pan .... but after close inspection on the rack, not that easy ..... (well over 100k on the clock)

The roadster on the other hand it just the damn oil pressure sensor .... AGAIN .... just had it changed out not that long ago, which took care of the issue for a minute ... but guess whose back ...... oh yeah ... the sensor has gone North as well !!! ((pegged at 80)) .... but this drippage is pretty obvious since it runs down the back of the block...

Good luck on your clean up .... hope you find the easy button ....... ((I hate cleaning from the bottom up ...... don't you ??? ))

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your oil pan look like this?

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSdNr0Fyoy80JaEayyXa1fx6s8hhjGGkiAyaXNtl00QikJRYG6

if so you have the batwing which is what c5's have. it has two gaskets, one from pan to motor and two for the lower plate (batwing section), unless the motor was out at some point and they switched it over to the newer ls2+ style. in order to do the upper gasket you have to drop the front cradle to get it out.

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There is also the one piece pan like dis...

Posted Image

Replacing the upper oil pan gasket will require the cradle to be dropped unless you are pulling the engine itself.

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Hi, My neighbor and I went through a similiar oil leak. The pan was awalys covered in oil. After a lot fo cleaning and looking, we determined it was the front seal in the timing cover. We removed the harmonic balancer, installed a new front seal, replaced the balancer and the oil leak was corrected. So, you might want to do a bunch of cleaning and look closely at the front seal.

Regards,

Joe

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Wow! My C5 is doing the same thing, Two maybe three drops at a time!

No significant loss of oil on my dip stick either!

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Quicksilver98

There is also the one piece pan like dis...

Posted Image

Replacing the upper oil pan gasket will require the cradle to be dropped unless you are pulling the engine itself.

That's it.....that is the one I have! Dropping the cradle sounds like fun. Hope its not that...we shall see after the cleanup. I already replaced the front seal and balancer a couple years ago so I doubt that went bad already.

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