Urgent Oil Pan R/R Help Needed!!!

[PeteRock]

Hello All,

Well, I set aside the whole weekend to do the rear main seal on my '83 6.2 Van. The sun's gonna set in a few hours and I'm still gettin' started. Guess I'll take the bus to work tomorrow.

From what I'd read about the van models, I was supposed to be able to get the oil pan off without having to lift the engine, but that didn't work out. I gave up last night when it got to dark to see what I was doing. This morning I lifted the engine a few inches and set it on wood blocks. There still doesn't seem to be enough clearance to get the pan off. I may just be missing something obvious, but I'm at my wit's end.

I'm gonna go see what else I can pull off the top to make more room and try to lift it more. I'll check back in a bit to see if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks,

-Pete

[diesel65]

Been there, done that with my friends van many many years ago.

Drop the oil pump into the pan, I think I also took the transmission out to get the flexplate off to get more room.
Putting the pan back was a horror show, because I had to put the RTV on the pan rails first then slide the pan into position with the pump laying on the bottom then try to lift the pump back up to fasten it to the main cap without covering my shirt sleeve with RTV.

A tip:
open the oil pump and pack it with vaseline

[john8662]

Never done the pan removal in a Van, but I read it in my GM repair manual for my truck and it covered the van and it says you can get the pan off the engine w/o lifting the engine.

But as just mentioned, you have to remove the oil pump and drop it into the pan. Seems like a major pain in the butt. I thought that removing the pan in my 2WD truck that required lifting the engine was fun enough.

Good tips above.

Although, I have to negate the vaseline in the oil pump, it's not required with these oil pumps. When you get everything sealed back up, all you have to do is remove the fuel shut off solenoid wire off the injection pump to keep the engine from starting and then crank until you get oil pressure on the gauge inside.

J

[PeteRock]

Yep, I've got the bell housing pegged right up against the bottom of the van and still need another half inch to clear the flex plate. Looks like I'll be pulling the tranny tomorrow.

It's been a while since I've had a transmission out. The only one I've done was on a truck, and I was in a professional shop (car hoist, tranny jack, all the "right" tools). Any pointers for removing a transmission on the driveway? Special tools? I don't have a tranny jack, can I get away with a regular hydraulic floor jack? Should I do anything else while I've got the transmission out? I'd hate to do this all over again later if I can find/fix potential problems now.

Thanks for your help.

-Pete

[NH2112]

The floor jack will work well, especially if the cradle is one of the larger ones (approx 5-6" across) since automatics tend to balance better than manuals. I once made a cradle specifically for trannies, out of 1/4" plate (approx the size of the oil pan) with chains and slots to hold the tranny in place, all welded to an old jack cradle.

I would definitely give the flexplate a VERY close inspection for cracks in the area of the TC mounting bolt holes and burred or worn teeth. Inspect the pump drive on the torque converter where it's welded to the torus just as closely, I've personally had a cracked weld here and it caused me MUCH grief trying to find the leak. The crack was barely visible on mine, I ended up putting some diluted used engine oil on it, letting it sit, then wiping it off 1/2 hour later - it flowed into the crack and was visible against the clean metal. It probably wouldn't hurt to have a new input seal and perhaps a speedi-sleeve on hand as well, because Murphy will make sure that all the parts stores are closed if you end up needing them and don't get them ahead of time.

[john8662]

On the tranny removal, are you doing this by yourself?

If so, go get a scissor type tranny jack that has the platform and chains to secure the transmission. I can't imagine trying to balance the tranny on a floor jack among other things during the removal.

Last I checked, a transmission jack can be had at harbor freight for around 50 bucks, I think they're well worth it.

Although, I haven't made my cheap self buy one, well, I will, a soon as I can't borrow the one I know about!

[PeteRock]

Thanks for all the replies. After three long days of fighting with this thing, and with the sun going down at about 5 pm now, I ended up taking it in to a shop to have the job finished.

The tranny did have to come out. John, I had read the same thing about the pan coming off after dropping the oil pump into it without lifting the engine, but there was no way. Even with the engine lifted up about 5 inches off the mounts the front of the pan still caught on the front main cap and the rear wouldn't clear the flex plate.

Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions.

-Pete