Remove oil Pan.

[Guest 1FASTC4]

So, I had this persistant leak on the front of the motor. My suspicion was that it was the timing chain cover.

Because of the cross member directly under the cover and because of all the accessories in the way (water pump, AC etc) I couldn't pinpoint the spot.

in order to find it, I removed all the accessories... even the harmonic balancer, and finally found out that the leak was where the timing chain cover meets the oil pan. in hindsite, had I known this I could have left all the accessories on but again, I couldn't find exactly where the leak was.

to remove the oil pan on an 86 one must, remove/move the starter out of the way, drain the oil, remove the oil filter, then rotate the motor so that the crankshaft counterweights under your front pistons, are out of the way. The instructions to do this in my Chilton's reads exactly as follows:

Remove oil pan.

Now for the hard part, the real PITA. Putting the pan back in. To put the pan back in you have to slide the front of the oil pan over the cross member but under the bottom of the motor. Sounds doable right? Try doing it while keeping that big thick gasket(in front and back) in place. Nearly impossible!!! As if that is not enough, you have to hold all this together while you get a few bolts started. I know that doesn't sound hard but it's monumentally difficult after you've crawled under and back out again from your car several times because you had to put the gasket back in place each time you screwed up.. it's tiring on your arms!

The tricky part, is that you have to remove the dipstick and tube in order to get the gasket to line up on the passenger side. This little hurdle was only beaten because I happened to see it's position after I took the pan off and only after my friend and I stared mystified at the out-of-position gasket for severa minutes and after a few failed attempts to line it up.

The Chilton's instructions for this little nightmare? You guessed it:

Install oil pan.

[Grayeagle]

a lil trick you may or may not know about gaskets in general ..

Clean gasket rails on block and pan well .. apply a thin coat of silicone to pan rails ..let it air dry a few minutes (until it isnt wet anymore..a dry film with wet squishy insides) ..stick the gaskets to the pan (or the rail if ya wanna do it that way) .. by pressing em into place. Breaks the thin dry outer cover of silicone and lets the wet squishy inside glue the gasket in place.

On the opposite rail .. the one with no silicone . . use wheel bearing grease, thicker the better. It will seal ..and if you ever need to take it apart again .. it comes apart easily with the gasket in one peice .. you can re-use it.

Works *great* for valve cover gaskets, oily pans, timing covers .. etc.

Instead of gluing both sides down and havin to pry it apart at a later date.

I always glued the gaskets to the part that came off the block .. easier to deal with scrapin the old gasket off if I had to replace it.. especially if the block was stayin in the car.

And try a dab of silicone in the bolt holes in the gasket ..to hold the bolts in place while slidin the pan back in

Silicone is my friend

-Frank (useda do things like change the main and rod bearings with engine in the car an stuff)