It's my understanding that in order to remove the oil pan, you have to remove one of the motor mounts. When you remove this motor mount, you have to support the engine somehow, obviously. How can you do this? Should I borrow an engine puller and support the engine that way? I'm just a little unsure about doing this.

Also does anyone have a guide to removing the entire vaccum rack? Is this just pulling wires and hoses or is it actually involving?

Sorry for being a clueless newbie, I've just never had to work on my 7 like this before.

 

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com for the vac rack removal. (It's pretty straightforward) As for the oil pan, the tranny/other mount should hold it pretty well, you can try to use an engine lift to hold the engine in the air if you desire.

 

damn you really have to do all that to take the oil pan out??? If I just wanted to change my oil pan gasket could I unbolt all the bolts and just slip the other one out and the new one in without having to go through all that mess???

 

On a s4 N/A the motor mount is about ~4 inches into the oil pan. I would say no, you couldn't. I'm not sure how close it is to your engine (J-spec?).

 

Man...I would help you out but youve come off to me as one of the hugest asses Ive ever seen on this board.

 

yeah its a jspec 88tII.

who are you talking about??? I know I'm not an *** so you can't be talking about me.

 

Snub. Sorry.

 

oh ok I was like what the hell??? I don't think I've pissed anyone off on here before. Maybe in the differance of opionion section

 

yes. i believe you have to hang the motor to change the oilpan. and i wouldnt recomend doing it w/o removing the actual pan anyways, lots of oil means lots of cleaning to make the gasket fit well.

 

Yeah, unless the motor mount bolts hold the pan on, you should be able slip the gasket in place. just keep in mind that if the gasket was glued on, scraping it off properly will mean that the oil pan needs to come out.

Then again, maybe it uses a metal gasket, I don't know cause I havent changed it, just giving you things to look for.

CHeck your haynes or FSM, im sure it has a diagram to show you how its bolted on.

 

oh damn that sucks! I always thought it would be easy! oh well looks like the oil ban gasket and baffel are going to be the last thing on my list to do ok sorry for hijacking

 

Earlier this year I pulled the oil pan from my '91 so I could change the oil pressure regulator. I used my engine lift to just support the engine where it was and had to remove the passenger side motor mount. The most difficult part was getting to the oil pan bolts on on the front part of the motor. I had to buy a swivel socket and used a long extension to get to them. If I remember correctly it was the front suspension cradle that was in the way of those bolts. The motor mount does have to come off and it will be the least of your worries once you get the motor suspended with chain or cable.

 

Well the passenger side motor mount is bolted to the oil pan...so...

I suppose you could lift the engine just enough to drop the pan. I think you could do it without having to disconnect the trans and all that crap, but Im not sure. Just guessing. My oil baffle went in when the engine was out, and then the whole thing was RTV'ed to heall and back so I highly doubt its ever going to leak.

 

from what i remember in the fsm, its a cloth gasket, you can use RTV to seal it, i dont believe you have to pull the motor or disconnect the driveline, but you do have to support the motor, so you can get that mount off.

 

RTV should seal the oil pan just fine. It's not a very high pressure seal.

 

Yeah. Mine has a ton of black RTV all around it. BDC said to get the oil pan off after doing that, he normally has to HAMMER them off. Sounds like a good enough seal to me.

 

JUST REMEMBER ---->> DONT OVER TORQUE THE OIL PAN BOLTS, Horror stories about broken bolts!!!

 

^ Ya I did that on one of the three shifter bolts. I was lucky though, I was able to get a high powered yet skinny magnet and magnetically unscrew it. Took about 15 minutes though.

 

When you remove the pan, pry evenly so you don't warp the pan. The FSM shows where to pry. Use silicone around all the bolt holes especially the motor mount bolts.

 

Well it's not that I have to change the gasket, which I'll do anyways. I have to remove the oil pan (for whatever reason) when I drill the front cover for the oil return line.

 

the haynes manual says to put a jack and a block of wood under the tranny to support the engine when removing the oil pan. I did this and then had to go college for the week without finishing the job, so it's just sitting there like that . i've got a hydrolic jack and two jack stands supporting the block of wood so it should be ok.

 

If the jack is supporting a lot of the weight, Id go check it. Theyll lose pressure over that amount of time and drop back down.

I learned the hard way...

 

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

 

I wouldnt use the stock gasket,.. very clean mating surfaces and a good bead of rtv, then lightly hand tighten the pan bolts and let it sid for an hour to skin over, then tighten them down,.. no leaks that way. The factory used rtv with no gasket as far as i know.

 

just in time, i was gonna re rtv my oil pan. leaking like crazy. i think one of the bolts might be messed up since it never tightens up when i try to. was like that when i bought it, leaking oil is making my wallet leaking as well.