oil pan gasket replacement on 1987 Pont Fiero Gt with v6 (Page 1/3)
Signupacct JAN 15, 12:16 AM
I am trying to get to the bottom of an oil leak issue

just purchased recently and the seller said that when he rebuilt the engine that he had trouble getting the oil pan gasket on

and thought that was the origin of the leak

He said he replaced the rear seal and did not think that he put it in incorrectly

He seemed pretty competent not just in the work he said he did on this car but showed other cars and the work on them seemed again pretty competent

I tried leak detect but it is coming from the area around the pan that is on the rear seal side. It drips around the pan and the semi circle shaped portion of the pan

I got the starter removed and all the pan bolts removed, four of them are studs sticking out of the block and there are flat plates with a hole in the center that a nut tightens and pushes down against the pan and the block

any ideas about the leak issue, it is a drip and probably could just keep a quart with me, but it is annoying and would not like the look of the street in front of where we live and the driveway and garage etc
I of course did not know about the intference issue with the motor mount (great)

so not crazy about the wood block on the harmonic balancer (did that once on a buick skyhawk and it cracked it and it failed on the road)

is it possible to lift passenger side on jack and remove tire and then loosen the bolts to the mount/bracket etc, then put tire back on and put rear tires on car ramps and then use a engine lift on the lift points on the engine after removing the upper swing mount and the lower mount and such

car is a manual 5 speed

not crazy about putting a piece of wood on the transmission or the oil pan to raise

thoughts, feedback suggestions ..

[This message has been edited by Signupacct (edited 01-31-2023).]

Signupacct JAN 15, 10:21 PM


question for moderator

did I post this in the correct discussion thread

I thought that it was a technical discussion and it had a question


but have not gotten any response yet
IMSA GT JAN 15, 11:43 PM
No one has an answer for you yet. The weekends are dead on this forum. It picks up during the week.
Signupacct JAN 20, 12:15 PM


perhaps I need to rephrase the post or place it somewhere else

Its Friday and no responses yet
willyt JAN 20, 12:47 PM
I am by no means an expert, but I'll jump in because no one else has.

It sounds like your leak is either coming from the rear main or the oil pan. I'm not sure of the best way to figure out which one it is, I never have been good at finding leaks.

As far as removing the oil pan, it is a pretty big PITA already when using the recommended method that you've referenced. Lots of owners including myself have done it this way several times with no issues. I personally would not go through all the extra work you described to avoid jacking by the oil pan or harmonic balancer. I'm not sure if any others have found a way to do this job without this, I haven't found any alternative methods.

That being said, if it is worth it to you, you could always just give it a try, worst case scenario it doesn't work and you are out a few hours of work.
Patrick JAN 20, 08:28 PM

quote
Originally posted by Signupacct:

perhaps I need to rephrase the post or place it somewhere else. Its Friday and no responses yet



Sometimes you just need to make use of the Search function here. There are 23 years worth of posts/threads readily accessible.


quote
Originally posted by Signupacct:

not crazy about putting a piece of wood on the transmission or the oil pan to raise



I personally would never raise an engine by putting a piece of wood under the oil pan and jacking it up. No problem with placing a jack under a transmission though. The other option, the best one IMO, is to suspend the engine and lower the cradle.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 01-20-2023).]

Notorio JAN 20, 11:54 PM
Sign, as has been said, many, many owners have used the wood block method without issue, but I can see how having had a balancer failure would give one pause. The solution is quite simple, just remove the balancer and use the snub nose of the crank as the point that sits on the wood block.
theogre JAN 21, 09:02 AM
Just having weird pressure on a balancer can wreck them. Worse if load moves for any reason.
Rubber part may seem strong but isn't and isn't "glued" to the metal and outer metal easily popped off w/ very little effort.
Crank and many other Pulleys aren't very strong either and can damage it w/o being obvious until engine starts. If a pulley is a tiny off center then belt(s) and other things will have problems.

Pan and other Gasket Leaks is often cause by installing wrong.
Example: Any RTV w/ many Gaskets will cause failure. Contamination of surfaces make RTV to Fail too even if some gaskets need a little at some locations.

see https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/146610.html

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

sanderson231 JAN 21, 11:01 AM
If you have an engine crane, then the engine can be lifted from the top with the two lifting lugs provided on the engine. There is a special GM J-tool for doing this but it is nothing more than a bar with a lifting lug in the middle and hook on each end to go into the lifting lugs on the engine. In lieu of the special tool, it may work to run a strap to the lifting lugs. I use seat belts salvaged from the junk yard for this type of lifting. They are plenty strong.

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formerly known as sanderson
1984 Quad 4
1886 SE 2.8L
1988 4.9L Cadillac
1988 3800 Supercharged

MarkS JAN 21, 02:29 PM
Some thoughts, curious what year Skylark that was? Anyway, do you have any documentation of the rebuild? Like a P/N of the oil pan gasket or gasket set? The 85-86's were different from the 87-88's. Just guessing he may have used the earlier gasket on the 87 which might explain it. I like Patrick's idea about dropping the cradle if the engine was just rebuilt, it should come down no problem. And if the gasket isn't the problem, you're steps ahead dropping the cradle for the rear main seal. Might be worth checking the distributor to see if that gasket is in place.

[This message has been edited by MarkS (edited 01-21-2023).]