my car is leaking oil around the oil pan gasket and i am wondering how hard it is to change it

 

I've heard many people say it is a bitch, and not tomention simply changing the gasket will only stop the problem for awhile. RTV is your friend.

 

Just get some hondabond and seal the leaking areas. You'll find in a search that many people have leaks, it's the nature of the beast. Some people have fixed it, others haven't.

 

it is seriously dependent upon your tool level. if you have good ones, and a engine hoist/or lift bar it is not that bad. get some good rtv and ditch the gasket

/\ it is your friend along with a can or 2 of brake clean. just be careful when you are taking the pan out so you dont tear off the oil pick up tube. GLWI

 

getting the oil pan sealed correctly once you remove it not too bad. the real bear is actually removing it.

it involves unbolting the engine mounts, raising the engine (either via a lift or jacking it) and then you must remove the suspension sub-frame(and steering rack?) to allow you to access and pull the oil pan.

while you're there, check your engine mounts, tie rod ends, and other components for wear.

bolt everything back together (remember to seal the bolts on the engine mounts so that they don't leak oil) and then take your car to have a new alignment done.

-bill

 

the pan will come off without dropping the frame.

 

You need to remove the motor mount bolts/nuts, raise the engine several inches to clear the motor mounts, remove all of the oil pan bolts (and you will invariably snap off one or two), drop the oil pan down through the tight little opening, remove all of the remaining gasket or sealant, spray clean with brake cleaner, apply rtv around the perimeter, let stand for five minutes and then remount up through the bitching little opening, all while standing on your head unless you have a car lift of course.

 

Not all the time. I've replaced a few oil pan gaskets and sometimes I had to loosen the subframe.

-Jeff

 

You don't don't want to replace the gasket. You're going to need some Hondabond, good RTV or The Right Stuff. You more then likely will have to loosen the sub-frame and get the car realigned when done.

 

Just did mine last weekend, with the help of Turbojeff. Thanks again for your help Jeff! We removed the subframe (engine hoist to lift slightly up on the engine and to hold it up while the sub frame is off the car). Found where the leak was, right motor mount. Removed both motor mounts and took them along with the subframe to the car wash to clean them using a degreaser and a high pressure hose. Cleaned everything else under the car using brake cleaner (4 cans of it!). Reassembled everything to proper specs, using alot of high temp RTV around the motor mounts and bolts (very messy!).

If I didn't have to clean everything the total job would have took maybe 3 or 4 hours. Job without Jeff's help would have took alot longer (add maybe 3 more hours).

Oh wait, plus the cost and time of renting an engine hoist (thanks again to Jeff for letting me use his).

Gaining a greater knowledge of your FD.... priceless! :-)

 

Just my opinion, but you want to remove the subframe. You can remove and replace the oil pan with the subframe in place, but you should chase out the bolt holes in the block and you can not do that with the subframe in place. And if your oil pan has been leaking, your subframe probably has 5 lbs of dirt in it. You will want to clean it.