oil pan gasket on my 87 2.9L

[jefe]

....so....got the oil pan off, had it cleaned along with the pump, pick up tube and screen and it's ready to go back in to place with a new felpro rubber gasket.

My question is if RTV sealant is needed here cause this thing is killing me. My first attempt was to use RTV and let the gasket set up just to the pan for a few days.....but when I was ready to put it in, I noticed there were a couple of spots the gasket had not adhered to the pan....so I took the gasket off and then had to clean all the RTV sealant off the pan...which let me tell you was a huge pain.

My 2nd attempt was to do it all at once before the sealant set. This didn't work either. Put RTV on the pan, put the gasket on, then put RTV on the engine block. Got the pan in but I wasn't able to get the oil pump bolted up before the RTV started drying up and without knocking the gasket off the pan. Super frustrating so I took it all out again and cleaned everything up before the RTV dried up completely.

Taking a break now but started wondering if RTV sealant is even needed here.

I've read a few posts from the guys who don't believe in using RTV...and believe me, I'd rather not use it to make my life easier here....but I really don't want to have to take the oil pan off again for a very very very very long time.

So wondering what people think.....use RTV or not for the oil pan gasket?

Thanks.

[drofman]

Just put it on the rear main cap corners and where the timming cover and block meet. I use spary adhesive on the pan side and one side of gasket to hold it in place. Make sure you let it tack. If you have the motor out do it on the engine side. I tighten from the middle out, then go over again. Other people might do it different but this has worked for me. Hurry up and finish that thing and I'll take you to some places you have probably never been to.

[jefe]

Thanks for the tip drofman. ha ha. I'm trying man, it's just a slow process because I can't find much time to work on it. So here it sits 7 months after I started.

You mentioned put a little RTV on those 2 spots....would you put it on both sides of the gasket?

[drofman]

nope, just on the engine side

[jefe]

Thanks. Hopefully gonna tackle this oil pan once and for all today.

[tekatlarge]

Hey jefe,

The way I do the gasket is to put a "LITTLE" dab of RTV in the corners as stated above I use a spray gasket adhesive and spray the block, after it tacks up i place the gasket in position and then I position the pan last. tighten the bolts in a criss cross pattern from the middle out.;

Sounds easy huh? Well if you take your time and make sure everything is clean it should be ok.

Good luck Jeffe.

[jefe]

Success! Oil pan & pump finally bolted back up!

Thanks guys!

[drofman]

ya hoo, did you ever find out if you have a low oil wire?

[jefe]

Definitely don't. It was never plugged into anything since I have owned it.