Other things while doing oil pan gasket?

[NoLiving]

I plan on putting in new upper and lower oil pan gaskets on my '94 530 in a couple weeks with the help of one of my buddies. We have a whole weekend slated for this so we *should* have extra time. Is there anything else that anyone would recommend doing while I have the thing apart? It has 217,000 miles on it so she's a bit older.

I've been letting the oil leak go for a while but lately it's been rediculous. I'm getting 10-15 drops per night, there's a pool on my floor :( The dealership said I had leaky valve cover and oil pan gaskets. I'm not sure if it was just the lower oil pan gasket leaking or if the upper one was leaking too but I thought I'd just replace both to get it over with since I'm down there anyway; does that sound like a good idea?

[dacoyote]

Just as a comment, if the valve cover is leaking... get it fixed...

Trust me on that one... (TM)

Charles

[DanH]

at least thats what your car description says. :p

[BobHarris]

It would seem to be a good idea, from reading previous posts, to check the oil pump bolts while you have the pan off.

HTH

Bob

[dacoyote]

OT: Not sure after my M50 ran away and went missing :-)

[mikell]

Diito, that - retorque the oil pump bolts, and put in a drop of Locktite just for good measure

[Kalevera]

Two bits of advice for when you put it back together: 1) clean clean and clean (some more) both the oil pans and block flanges. Inspect the pans for signs of overtorqued bolts and use a ball peen hammer to knock the lips back in place. I use one of those rubber tipped whoo wheel attachments and a razor blade to get things shiny. Don't use a gasket scraper on the aluminum parts -- they'll get cut up and leak. 2) use RTV sparingly -- only a tiny bit on the timing covers/block/pan junction and where the gasket permits it. FWIW, getting that stuff in the oil is a quick way to kill bearings.

best, whit

[tim s]

i found a bolt in my pan & had no warning or noises.
tim s.

[infinity5]

Pick up an O-ring for the oil level sensor, just to be safe. you never know what shape that might be in, and it would suck if it up and leaked right after yoiu had the pan back on.

[NoLiving]

Thanks for the responses guys.


Two bits of advice for when you put it back together: 1) clean clean and clean (some more) both the oil pans and block flanges. Inspect the pans for signs of overtorqued bolts and use a ball peen hammer to knock the lips back in place. I use one of those rubber tipped whoo wheel attachments and a razor blade to get things shiny. Don't use a gasket scraper on the aluminum parts -- they'll get cut up and leak. 2) use RTV sparingly -- only a tiny bit on the timing covers/block/pan junction and where the gasket permits it. FWIW, getting that stuff in the oil is a quick way to kill bearings.


Just a couple questions about this, well pretty much all of it =P My friend is the one who's the mechanic, he'd probably understand you perfectly but I was just wondering for my own knowledge. Check for overtorqing as in if someone tried to torque the pan tighter to seal up the leak? Which lips are you refering to? Do you mean if they overtorqued and the metal flattened at the seal? Which parts in this are aluminum and need to be watched?

What kind of sealant would you recommend for the gaskets? It looks like you say RTV; isn't that the silicone based one? I've read that some people say not to use that because it makes the gaskets slip, what are your thoughts on that? Some people say Permatex, how is that stuff different? Anyone else have opinions on this stuff?

[zuzuk212]

Also ... if your valve cover is leaking like mine was ... it may not be the gasket. The reason mine was leaking is because the inside of the valve cover was painted ... the paint split from the cover and that's how the oil got out. The gasket was still ok. I had the cover blasted, inside, so that the engine wouldn't be eating paint flakes and changed the gasket and used little, just a film, rtv ... like whit said ... don't use too much.

Ken