What is the procedure to replace an oil pan gasket?

Replacing an Oil Pan Gasket

• Drain oil through plug located at the bottom of oil pan.
• Remove bolts around edge of the oil pan. There are probably around 8 of them.
• Drop oil pan.
• Clean gasket material from both block and oil pan.
• Install new gasket.

Here are more opinions and answers from other FAQ Farmers:

• Trust me if you do it yourself YOU WILL HAVE AN OIL LEAK! there is more to it then 123, you will also need to know how much to pressure to put on the bolts. Please just take it to a shop.

• It is not "for sure" that you will have a leak if you do it yourself. Don't let a dealer rip you off. Buy a repair manual for your car. Follow the directions. Take the pan off after draining the oil. Clean off the old gasket material, install the new gasket using silicone sealant and tighten the bolst with the correct tightening sequence(pattern), which it should say in the manual. The tightening sequence is vital when replacing any gasket.

• It also depends on what kinda of vehicle you want to do this on. On one particular vehicle the only way to get the oil pan off was to lift the engine (i'm not kiddin') and another one you had to take a part of the exhaust out of the way to get at it.... anyway, ya, other than the few pain in the butt ones, the rest aint so hard. 1)drain the oil 2)remove the bolts 3) scrape away old gasket material or sealer from both surfaces (being careful not to scar them) 4) Clean the oil pan well (you don't want any extra junk in there when you put it back on. 5) Put on sealer/gasket 6)put bolts on 7) If you can find the proper tightening specifications, then go right ahead and do it, but if not, and you don't have some idea, then it's best to take it to a shop. Cork gaskets should be tightened to about 100 inch pounds (max 120, 100 being safe). I recommend using a torque wrench. It's best that you replace the oil filter too since the oil is already out and .... why not.

• I SUGGEST GO TO A DEALER. IT COST MORE BUT IT PAYS IN THE LONG RUN.

First answer by Leonard. Last edit by Eskater1488. Contributor trust: 64 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 297 [recommend question]