my oil pan sweats prettty heavily at the front of the engine. not enough to make a difference on the stick but leaves drops on the driveway. Has anybody changed their own oil pan gasket. i read haynes, it said hoist up the engine , take of the p side engine mount and move the engine up a few inches. then pull the switcharoo. i don't have a engine hoist or winch or whatever its called. has anyone done it anyother easier way. ie homemade hoist?

 

first off, if its leaking only at the front, it might be the front seal thats the problem and not really the pan gasket

you should be able to do it w/out a hoist. i'd take the mount off, jack up engine a bit by oil pan w/ floorjack (wood between the two so it does not damage it). then rig it to hold engine up w/ more wood or w/ jackstand and wood, or chains in engine bay somehow. theres lots of ways it can be done, just get creative. even w/ the engine jacked up a bit, i think its still pretty tight getting the pan off/on

 

cmon, somebody must have sometime done a gasket switch

 

ive done both the oilpan and the front cover gaskets. its a huge pain in the *** without a hoist. it takes forever and makes a mess and frustrates the hell out of you. do whatever you can to hoist the motor from the top. its sooooo much easier. get a chain pulley hoist from a hardware store and put it on a tree if you have to. its worth going the extra length for a hoist. trust me.

 

Yeah, Sorry. I've done it once, I had the hoist, and it was still kind of a pain. A LOT easier to do with the motor out of the car.

Greg O.

 

Damn! all the 3rd gens are in WI

www.rx7wi.org

 

Nah, we just hide them very well

 

I've done this as well. Search for "oil pan" under my name and you will find several references. It's a serious pain in the ***. Make sure you have a 10MM flex socket handy, as well as a lot of patience.

 

don't forget about the needle bearings!

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm