Before I bought my camaro I took it into a chevy dealership to have it inspected and they said I had seepage from the oil pan due to my gasket wearing out. They said it's a pretty common thing and not a big deal but is it an easy fix? Just drain the oil and pop off the bolts that hold the oil pan on? or is it more complicated than that?

 

I know with my car you have to lift the engine up and since you can't jack the car up by the oil pan you have to lift it with a hoist or come along. My car is a V8 but they probally have the same oil pan. Unless you havethe enginge hoist I would leave this one to a pro. You could do your own enginering and tie a chain to a very strong tree limb, and use that.

 

The pan gasket on the 3.8's is part of a windage baffel between the crank and oil in the pan. To replace it, the pan has to come out, and it's not an easy job laying on your back. Not 'un-doable', just not easy. GM calls for a special lifting bar for the engine, easily worked around.

Before going through the hassle of pulling the pan, I'd snug the pan bolts 1st., just don't over tighten them. Use an 'X' pattern working from the center outwards.A little seepage isn't bad unless you 'need' to have your ride perfect. Also, make sure your pan isn't rusting through like mine did. Look for bubbles under the paint and a 'dead' sound if you tap it with a wrench.

 

Yea, but definitely do not tap it with a wrench anywhere near any bubbles in the paint, because you are just asking for one heck of a mess if the rust breaks through!

 

Ha ha ha....I can just picture it now...Tap.tap..tap..."WHAT THE FU(%.......somebody get me a drain pan and some speedy dri!!!"
I love how GM tech says sure its an easy job...An easy job is changing your air filter. Next time they say easy job, ask if they will charge you an "easy job" price. I dont care if its a 6, 8,10,or 12..changing an oil pan sucks..if thats the case replace your oil pump while at it.

 

I can see where a guy with some hussle, a lift and all the right tools doing the job in 4 hrs or so. It's really not that hard a job. I've done worse.

You want to do something fun, try changing the generator on a VW flat 4 (Type 1 and 2)without pulling the engine as VW reccomened. Or pulling the rear drive shaft from a '78 Jeep Cheeroke with the NP314 transfer case. Or changing the points on a Fiat X1-9 (1st gen). You actually had to pull the engine and transaxle mounts so you could tilt the engine enough to pull the distributor .... and that was working with the correct tools.

Tapping implies just that, tapping. Not wacking it with a hammer. If you wanted to open a hole it's easier to use a gasket scraper .... Like the fools in the body shop that opened up my pan. As for changing the oil pump, really depends on the mileage. No need if you have good pressure before you start, and you take care with start up after the new pan is installed.

Hey, you know it's also a good time to check the bearing while you're at it ... if you want to do more unnecessary work.

 

I've been working on mine for a few months, only due to money. Plus I had to take off the k member and that was a pain. I have the k member removed and now I'm just waiting for my oil pan gasket. I'm also going to replace my rear main seal, so I'm removing the transmission by myself. I'll probably need a new AC compressor since I made the dumb decision to leave it in the open. Now it has been rained on many times. Hopefully the engine still runs. Otherwise I've wasted a lot of time and money on this

To hold my car up, we have a lift that we can just drive on to. On that I put it on jack stands so I can get under the car with the aluminum sheet we have under it. I have it jacked up at all four corners and I'm holding the engine up with an engine bar from harbor freight. I hope to get it fixed soon because I really want to start driving it again. I'm stuck with a Ford Edge until it's done. It's better than nothing though