Stuck fan clutch nut

[jtre]

The original p[an gasket is best if it's cleaned and usable. Don't use cork, it will work if done right, but eventually cork will let oil seep right through it. RTV is perfectly fine to replace any cork material, such as on all intakes front and back. It only needs to be thick enough to be squished about an 1/8" at most.

The key is how clean you get the pan, block, gaskets, cover etc. Try to spend a lot of time slowly cleaning the pan and block, as much into the seam as you can reach.

It turns out the oil pan gasket I bought is a steel/rubber one, just like OE so i dont think I will need the cork

 

[jtre]

any tips to get the cover back on there? It wont seat properly, it is sticking out on the bottom about half an inch

 

[CDW6212R]

Did you drop the whole oil pan down, I hope not? That could let you change the whole pan gasket, but that's a bigger job and RTV needs to be run along the crank round portion of the pan/cover, and at the four corners. Most people do just the front pan section, meaning seal what you can reach with RTV and let the rest of the seal do its job.

Will the cover seat with the dowels out, just as a dry test fit to be sure it goes on smoothly? I think the dowels and the pan being down enough are the big keys.

 

[jtre]

I did not drop the oil pan at all, just the 4 bolts and resealed with a piece of oil pan gasket. I see one dowel on my cover and one on the block, how do I remove them? also how do I drop the pan more? I have heard that replacing the crank seal (which I did) makes it harder, could this be the issue?

 

[jtre]

got it on, but I have to remove the crank bolt (threaded it back in after I removed the balancer to turn the #1 cylinder to TDC...where can I stick a screw driver to keep the crank from turning to remove the bolt since I dont currently have the balancer in place?

 

[delexploder]

Don't screw around with dropping the pan , line up ( very carefully ) the bottom of the cover with the lip of the pan , it will be over the crank already , use the two long bolts as handles , without the water pump in the way , you can use them to line up and leverage the cover in place and get a few of the small bolts in place to bring it tight to the block , just gi dlow and skip around a little at a time like doing lug nuts on a wheel ,

 

[1998Exp]

As I warned, it's most likely being pushed up a bit too high by the oil pan gasket and all the RTV that you stuffed in there, and hitting the dowels. Some simply yank them out. I wouldn't do that, because the timing gasket is so narrow at the top corners, that a bit of misalignment may reduce that to zero. My advice is to pull out the one that's in the cover and put it in the block, where it belongs. If you have a grinder you can enlarge the taper at the end to make it easier to slide on. Insert the two bolts that are the closest to the dowels and VERY GENTLY use those to force the cover onto the dowels and into place.
Caveat: this worked for me, not responsible for your cracked cover if it doesn't work for you!

 

[delexploder]

It will not matter if it moves now , thr chain is on and the balancer only goes on one way , use a ratchet and smack it hard , should loosen up

 

[jtre]

It will not matter if it moves now , thr chain is on and the balancer only goes on one way , use a ratchet and smack it hard , should loosen up

isnt it bad if that doesnt work and the engine turns backwards?

 

[delexploder]

No you will be fine , its no like you're turning it over a lot

 

[jtre]

thanks for the tip, now to get the last two oil pan bolts in (what a hassle)

 

[jtre]

more problems, of course..i got 8 bolts to fit out of the 9, but the last one doesnt. Tried every single bolt in there and nothing works. Of course its the hole near the passenger side coolant passage....if the dorman bolts dont fit, can I just seal up the hole with RTV or something? This is confusing because I know none of the bolts broke

 

[CDW6212R]

Get all of the bolts to start before tightening any of them. I'd guess you have some fairly snug and that last one won't start. Pull out the one near or opposite of it, and compare the depth to be sure nothing is in that hole. Then play with the other bolts, loosen them enough and the last ones will(should) start.

 

[jtre]

ok, so it appears that the last bolt bottoms out at the block, is there supposed to be a hole there? I find it tough to believe that every other bolt is aligned but not this las one. I cant for the life of me get it (or any bolt on the pump) started at all in that one hole. Its not worth the hassle of tearing the stupid thing down again, so will it seal with some RTV?

 

[CDW6212R]

Is there possibly a past broken bolt in that hole? It's possibly okay to not use one bolt, but the sealant has to be perfect and the other bolts properly tight. I'm sure I've read of it being done, just not for lots of years.

 

[jtre]

I did not break a bolt. Everything else fits perfectly and can be torqued. my other thought is to maybe tap a thread into the hole and put a corresponding bolt in there. This repair really only needs to last a year or so

 

[jtre]

I managed to stick the bolt in place with RTV and blue locktite. Holding plenty strong but not torqued. hopefully, that will prevent or at least reduce any leakage in that area. So long as i can drive it a reasonable distance without the need to top off, I am happy. I plan on getting a new car in a couple years anyway, hopefully it will hold at least long enough for me to recover from this miserable job. Out of curiosity, if I ever did need to tear it down again, can a water pump that is working (since mine is now brand new) be reused?

 

[CDW6212R]

Sure, with good coolant you can figure the mileage as additive, simple reduction of lifespan. The coolant is key, use a good brand and something for a WP lubricant, like Water Weter.

 

[jtre]

So good news and bad news...good news is my TC is not leaking oil or coolant when not under pressure (which it was prior)...bad news is I couldnt put it under pressure because A) I managed to crack the T-stat housing with my brand new stubby impact that I got when I found an old unused HF gift card (D'OH!) and it leaked as we filled and B) my very intermittent starter issue decided to rear it's ugly head again after at least a month. Anyway, new starter and T-stat housing tomorrow, yay.

 

[CDW6212R]

Are you sure the T-stat housing is cracked? It's very common to have a leak from the housing due to the T-stat slipping down as it's installed. If the T-stat slips down, it keeps the housing from contacting the intake, leaving a big gap to leak. The trick to putting that on is to use RTV on the housing side of the T-stat, to make it stay, and let it set up a little, say a good 15 minutes. Put fresh RTV on the intake side just before attaching the assembly.