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FAQ

Project.
Removing & Replacing
2L Oil Pan
Eric McCann
Email: eric.mccann@sbcglobal.net
Date: Sun Jun 24 21:38 PDT 2007

Dropped the oil pan today and cleaned thoroughly for completion of the Turbo Oil Return downpipe fitting to oil pan. Using the advice of the posts in the archives, I was able to find some nifty tricks to getting the oil pan off while the engine remained in the car.

1) Disconnect battery
2) Jack front of car up and place on jack stands
3) Drain oil from engine
4) Disconnect positive battery cable from Starter motor (one 13mm nut)
5) Remove small starter motor mounting bracket from engine mount bracket (on drivers side) - (there are only two small 10mm bolts then the small bracket falls off. I had to remove this bracket to get at the top side engine mount nut on drivers side.
6) Remove top nut (17mm) from the engine mounts (the nut on the top side of the big round rubber engine mount)
7) Remove transmission flywheel bottom protective cover. There are 4 bolts holding it on. Two on the bottom are 10mm and one on each side that are 13mm.
7) Remove all of the oil pan nuts (there are a bunch of them) - 10mm
8) Separate oil pan from engine block (I used a ball joint separator, but any pry bar will do). This was very easy to do.
9) Raise engine while attached to transmission using a floor jack. Place floor jack under the front of the transmission and place a wood block on the jack, then raise the transmission/engine together about 4 or so inches being careful not to pinch wires or hoses on the top of the engine between the engine and the firewall.
10) Remove two long bolts holding oil pump in place and drop oil pump.
11) At this point the oil pan will simply fall right out from underneath the engine with the oil pump in it.
12) While you have the pan off, this is a great time to CLEAN IT inside and out. I used one can of Gunk Engine degreaser and 3 cans of brake parts cleaner. Worked great!

Installation is reverse of disassembly using a new oil pan gasket or RTV sealant on the old gasket.

NOTE: When dropping the engine back down onto the rubber engine mounts, the threaded mount studs may NOT simply go back into the engine mounting brackets attached to the engine. Mine didn't at least. I ended up having to use a pickle fork to drive the studs into the openings on the engine mount brackets. This was very easy to do, but just thought I'd note it.

I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but this is just how I did it and your mileage may vary using the method outlined above.