How I removed a stuck oil pan

[ratbailey]

Hey All,

 

I used up all my garage time last weekend trying to drop my oil pan. I used every trick I knew of--hammered it with a rubber hammer, hammered it with a 2x4 and ball peen, chipped away at the gasket with a putty knife, sprayed the heck out of the gasket edge with Gumout and PB Blaster, talked to it softly, swore at it, and used up all my resolve to not go at it with a prybar. No luck. I'd like to know what they used for sealant, because the next time I have to weld something, I'm going to use that instead. 

 

I'm sure what I'm about to describe has already been done by someone somewhere, but it doesn't seem to be in the internet lore of how to remove a stubborn oil pan, so here it is for posterity.

 

1. Go into your basement and get an ugly hand saw. Everyone has one, don't be ashamed. They're made of spring steel, which is perfect for what we're about to do.

2. Unscrew and toss the crappy handle. Take the saw to the grinder, grind off the teeth, and make something like a sharpened, beveled edge along where the teeth used to be. Next, you're going to break the saw into 2" squares.

2. Score lines with a dremel and cut-off wheel, marking out the squares. Draw lines with a sharpie, if you want to get fancy. 3 or 4 light passes on each line should do it. 

3. Clamp along the lines in your vise, and you should have a pretty clean break at the scored line. Keep going until you have a bunch of little square blades---if you laid out your squares along the beveled edge you ground earlier, you should have 15-20 little sharpened putty knives. This whole thing shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

4. Take the blades over to the oil pan. Drive the blades home into the gasket material in the space between the screw holes with a hammer (There wasn't room to swing a hammer around the area where the oil pan meets the block, but I was able to turn the hammer sideways and get some decent whacks in). Tap each one in until it's 1" in, severing the gasket in that area. In some areas that seemed extra stubborn, or near areas I couldn't quite reach, I drove in 3 or 4 of the blades on top of one another, turning them into shims to gently pry the pan off the block. The crudely sharpened edge on the blades cut through the gasket nicely, with little effort.

 

After you've got these all driven in, all that's left to do is to sever the gasket around the holes, which is much easier because you're dealing with less material. Use one of the blades as a chisel, pulling it back out with a vice grips. I had the pan off in about a half hour. 

 

-Art

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by ratbailey

[Saskwatch]

 ...... note to self, - don’t bother name calling, swearing, getting all worked up thus raising blood pressure to dangerous levels whilst laying on garage floor /-;

    Well done , Thank you for posting ?

[Saskwatch]

Now where the ^#*€£! did I put that ol’saw !

[Sniper]

lol,

 

I have a variety of hammers.  Generally I used a plastic faced hammer when I need to bang something I don't want to mangle.  I have a small ball peen hammer for something I need a little more persuasion on.  Then if things get me irritated I have a 4lb engineer's hammer I call Big Bertha.  If I get to the "By God you will come apart" level of irritability I have a monster sledge hammer that weights about 25lbs my neighbor gave me years ago.  I call it Big Bertha's big mean sister.  I have yet to find anything that she can't hammer into submission.  Of course using her means I will be replacing whatever I direct her at. 

 

Side note on the neighbor I mentioned.  He was an older gent that I probably had 8" and 50lbs on.  He was a Korean War vet.  One day I was driving fence posts making a dog run when he came over with The Hammer and gave it to me.  Told me he used to use it to drive fence posts in the summer when he was younger.  I hefted that monster and told him "you were a man not to be messed with if you swung this thing all summer long".  I never met John Henry, but I think I met his cousin.

 

These days The Hammer mostly hangs in my garage as a sort of piece d'art.  Though I did use it this month on some manifolds that refused to come off my 230, they were already cracked.  Three swings, no more problems.  My son was amazed, lol. 

[ratbailey]

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

 

 

I have a variety of hammers. 

Oh yeah, if I knew I could head down to the DeSoto dealership and pick up a new oil pan, the BFH would've come out. Even so, I really couldn't get a good swing at it with it still in the car, and me on my back.

Edited January 26, 2021 by ratbailey

[Dartgame]

Wonder what kind of adhesive sealant was holding the thing on that tightly. Any idea ? I've never had an oil pan stick the way you described.

[kencombs]

You would be amazed at how useful these can be:

Cutting gaskets free without damaging parts, window sealant etc.  Not great for sanding but will get into spots no other will.  This is the cheap version.  You can spend 20 to 200 bucks on one.  I'm cheap on tools that don't get used much.

[ratbailey]

3 hours ago, Dartgame said:

Wonder what kind of adhesive sealant was holding the thing on that tightly. Any idea ? I've never had an oil pan stick the way you described.

I haven't had time to get back at it after busting it loose, and it's going to be brutally cold in the garage the next several days, but I'll report back if there's anything recognizable. 

[ratbailey]

1 hour ago, kencombs said:

You would be amazed at how useful these can be:

Cutting gaskets free without damaging parts, window sealant etc.  Not great for sanding but will get into spots no other will.  This is the cheap version.  You can spend 20 to 200 bucks on one.  I'm cheap on tools that don't get used much.

What's this thing called? 

[Young Ed]

51 minutes ago, ratbailey said:

What's this thing called? 

Oscillating tool. My suggestion if you go to purchase just make sure it has quick release blades. The ones with the allen set screw are a pain

[bamfordsgarage]

My guess is that pan was affixed with  PermaTex Right Stuff sealant. It's a dark grey/black and just a bit glossier than flat.

 

"Miracle in a tube" that stuff. Five or six years ago I patched a 5" water jacket crack in my 1912 Not-A-Mopar with Right Stuff; it still looks good and hasn't weeped a drop.

[kencombs]

14 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Oscillating tool. My suggestion if you go to purchase just make sure it has quick release blades. The ones with the allen set screw are a pain

That is true, but one pays dearly for the convenience.  For occasional use, I was fine with the set screw.  More frequent users would prefer the quicky.

[JBNeal]

I had been contemplating getting an oscillating tool for years but couldn't justify the expense...until last summer, when one of my elderly widow neighbors hired me to replace her 3 garage doors from the 80s that were falling apart.  There was considerable water damage at the base of the door trim that extended upwards 24" that needed to be removed, and it wasn't until I got into it that I realized under all of those flaking off layers of paint that the majority of the trim work was 2x6 framing pine...apparently the doors were not framed correctly so the builders slapped 2x6s over the huge gaps and called it good.  So I needed to use something with more oomph than the wood chisels I had in order to make a lot of plunge cuts.  I opted for a Dremel MM-50 as the angled head was perfect for getting in tight corners...the quick release blades were nice in that I could change the orientation of the blades to 90° as needed in corners.  I let the blades do the work and took my time, went through a few blades in the process as they do wear out, but was quite pleased with the tool.  I'm glad I had ear plugs for the work as plunge cutting can get quite loud

[kencombs]

If you haven’t already, grind the teeth from a worn blade and bevel the edge.  Makes a great gasket scraper

[Sniper]

A KaBar works nice as a gasket scraper too and you can keep your slaughter's boyfriend wondering as you have that discussion with him while you are tinkering. 

[Ranger]

Yep! That oscillating tool is as handy as a pocket in a shirt. Bought mine at HF for just a few bucks. It’s paid for itself time and time again. It should be in every toolbox.

[ratbailey]

On 1/27/2021 at 3:57 PM, Dartgame said:

Wonder what kind of adhesive sealant was holding the thing on that tightly. Any idea ? I've never had an oil pan stick the way you described.

Shiny, black, hard stuff that dissolved (softened is a better word) in lacquer thinner. Could barely chip it off with an old wood chisel. I don't think it was Indian Head shellac, which if I remember correctly, dries to more of a dark brownish color.

 

Never removed and cleaned out an oil pan before...add that to my personal list of unpleasant jobs to avoid ? Glad I did it, though...I was able to see the condition of the engine and feel a little more confident that the last owner told me the truth about it. Very little wear on the camshaft, and I could still see a crosshatch pattern on the cylinder walls, overall pretty darn clean, hardly any sludge at all, except at the bottom of the pan. And, I found a 10-32 nut that someone dropped in during an oil change a million years ago. Hoping and praying I didn't botch the job of putting in the new gasket. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by ratbailey

[John Reddie]

On 1/27/2021 at 8:19 PM, Young Ed said:

Oscillating tool. My suggestion if you go to purchase just make sure it has quick release blades. The ones with the allen set screw are a pain

I bought one of these tools with the quick release blades and I love it especially working with wood. It came with an assortment of blades and some sanding pieces as well. Amazon has a bunch of them listed.

John R