Oil pan gasket replacement procedure

[steadyhand]

Ok well I found another problem on my 99 mountaineer 5.0 that the previous owner neglected to fix.

The oil pan gasket is leaking and I do mean leaking badly. It has oil all over the cats and this could result in a fire if the cats got hot enough.

I don't like to let something go undone so it is time to fix it.

It looks like I have to lift the engine from what I've seen.

From what I can see, I could just drop the pan and squeeze a one piece gasket in there and seal it back up. BUT, I would like to pull the whole pan out and clean it up. It will allow me a chance to see what is inside of that oil pan. Hopefully nothing bad

Do I just loosen the motor mounts and tranny mount and jack up the engine several inches?

Do I have to unhook anything from the engine to jack/lift it up such as fuel lines, electrical plugs, exhaust, etc.?

 

[Kupaaq87]

I've got the same questions. Did you get it done the way you describe? Or is there anyone else who can comment on this? Thanks in advance.

 

[steadyhand]

I just dropped the pan as far as it would. If you have a one piece rubber gasket then you can cut it and pull the whole thing out pretty easily. Getting the new gasket in was a PITA. I pulled the gasket open and stretched it around the pan until the holes lined up. The hardest part was squeezing the front and rear part of the gasket onto the pan. The front is hard to do because the crank pulley is in the way.The rear is hard because the transmission is still in.

If you pulled the transmission back and pulled your crank pulley and harmonic balancer off the front you could probably get the gasket squeezed into place without much trouble.

I didn't want to remove anymore than I had to so I worked around them. It was done on a hot humid summer night with mosquitoes eating me alive. A lot of sweat and dirt and feeding the bloodsucking mosquitoes went into it. So if I had to do it over again I would take it to a shop.

With that said, I did get the job done and still no leaks to this day.

 

[Kupaaq87]

It's taken me a while to get back to this. First off - thanks for the response. I probably would've given all my money to a shop if you hadn't responded. That said - I think there must have been a few changes between '99 and '02 that made this a great deal more difficult.

I needed to replace the front main seal as well, so I removed the radiator, fan, and crank pulley. Even with those gone, I couldn't move the upper oil pan far-enough forward to remove the old gasket or install the new one.

The section was hard-up against the transmission, and the oil pump wouldn't allow it to move forward. I removed the oil pump without thinking, and the oil pump drive shaft dropped into the upper pan. Re-installing the pump and pump drive shaft is impossible with the upper pan in in place, so I had to remove the pan completely.

The only way to completely remove the pan (without removing the engine) was to remove the front differential (and with it, the front axles). Once that was done, access was easy, and I got the seals replaced and everything back together.

I'm a novice, so this took me a few weekends to complete. Again - thanks for the response. I'm glad I got it done myself, and I learned a great deal. However, I wouldn't recommend that anyone with an '02 Explorer try to get this done in a day.

 

[kevinspann]

I just dropped the pan as far as it would. If you have a one piece rubber gasket then you can cut it and pull the whole thing out pretty easily. Getting the new gasket in was a PITA. I pulled the gasket open and stretched it around the pan until the holes lined up. The hardest part was squeezing the front and rear part of the gasket onto the pan. The front is hard to do because the crank pulley is in the way.The rear is hard because the transmission is still in.

If you pulled the transmission back and pulled your crank pulley and harmonic balancer off the front you could probably get the gasket squeezed into place without much trouble.

I didn't want to remove anymore than I had to so I worked around them. It was done on a hot humid summer night with mosquitoes eating me alive. A lot of sweat and dirt and feeding the bloodsucking mosquitoes went into it. So if I had to do it over again I would take it to a shop.

With that said, I did get the job done and still no leaks to this day.

Have a 2wd helps significantly. I changed the pan gasket on an AWD...I just ended up pulling the engine out and doing it, there's no room to maneuver the pan around to get the gasket in. I probably could've pulled the front axle, but that means taking the suspension apart...you can't win.

 

[masospaghetti]

I was barely able to drop the pan with AWD, there are a few bolts that are nearly impossible to get to that are tucked above the front differential. Some creative use of swivels and extensions got them out, and I was lucky because the bolts weren't stuck in there. Seriously, it took a good few hours to get a couple bolts out, and a lot of swearing. A truly terrible job.

If I had to do it again, it would probably be a bit easier with actual swivel sockets like these, instead of using the universal joint adapters that I had to use:

I forget the size of the bolt, I think it was either 8 mm or 10 mm.

 

[SoNic67]

Have a 2wd helps significantly. I changed the pan gasket on an AWD...I just ended up pulling the engine out and doing it, there's no room to maneuver the pan around to get the gasket in. I probably could've pulled the front axle, but that means taking the suspension apart...you can't win.

I dropped the front axle to get inside my AWD oil pan (change the oil pump). Just to find out that the pan still didn't clear the steering rack.
Had to disconnect the engine mounts and raise the engine a couple of inches (with exhaust still connected). That allowed the pan to drop, but latter lead to exhaust manifold leaks.

No easy way around it.