Rear Main Oil Seal

[OR VietVet]

You could take some fine grit sandpaper and smooth out that spot on the oil pan.

 

[Larryjb]

Starting reassembly. All the bolts have been soaking in brake cleaner. I tried dry fitting the pan and it will be super easy to slide it in. If I rest it on the differential while sliding it forwards, I can watch it go into place and wiggle it beside the wiring harness, then pop it in place.

Interestingly, the oil baffle bolts in the pan didn't go in smoothly for the last 5-6 turns. I cleaned them out with brake cleaner, and they did go in. Torqued nicely to 106 lb-in. Now just cleaning the gasket surfaces. This part always takes me forever. I like to be able to eat off my oil pans. I could have done this even better if I had removed the differential... (Can I get Mark onto his high horse again?

Ron, I'll use the sandpaper to make sure there aren't any sharp ridges on that edge. The RTV should take care of anything else.

 

[Rocket Man]

I think at this point you should really just pull the differential, you’ll be able to clean the gasket surface better. Probably save you some time.

As far as that ridge on the pan, I’d use a block to sand it with just to make sure it stays perfectly flat. But I imagine you’re already on top of that. Good work.

 

[Larryjb]

I hate it when you count 14 bolts, set them aside in a box under the truck, install them, then find out you're one short. I spent an hour, while the RTV was doing its initial cure hunting for this bolt. I looked everywhere, including around all the steering and differential stuff. I finally installed an old exhaust bolt which fit.

I began the final torquing of the bolts. When I got to the last "exhaust" bolt, I saw a silvery bolt hanging on my differential. -eh

I'll check the torque once again tomorrow and get things put back together tomorrow.

 

[OR VietVet]

Larry, you try to plan for all contingencies and try to lay everything out just so and then "it is what it is" bites you in the ass. Remember, you are not really in control. Life is.

 

[Rocket Man]

I hate it when you count 14 bolts, set them aside in a box under the truck, install them, then find out you're one short. I spent an hour, while the RTV was doing its initial cure hunting for this bolt. I looked everywhere, including around all the steering and differential stuff. I finally installed an old exhaust bolt which fit.

I began the final torquing of the bolts. When I got to the last "exhaust" bolt, I saw a silvery bolt hanging on my differential. -eh

I'll check the torque once again tomorrow and get things put back together tomorrow.

See? Should have pulled that damn differential, eh?

 

[Larryjb]

Mark, let's just say we have a difference of opinions. Next time this aughta speed things up


I took the day off yesterday. Not much to do for the next while anyway. I got things back together, almost. I pretty much just have to add fluids.

One thing that concerned me was the torque specifications for the oil pan bolts is 18 ft-lbs. That's just fine, except for the two long rear bolts. They seemed to not want to get up to 18 lb-ft. I got them up there, but I'm worried that I may have stretched the bolts like Rickafix did. As long as it doesn't leak, I'll be happy and leave it alone. If I do have to do this again, it'll go twice as fast easily, but I hope I don't. I am also concerned about the ridge on the back. I did use some sandpaper to make sure it was smooth. I added a strip of RTV in that location as well. When I got the pan up (it went up really easily with the diff simply resting on the centre link, no prying, no strain on the CV joints), and I hand tightened all the bolts as required by the RTV instructions. I then left it for an hour and went to torque them up. They seem much looser than hand tight this time. I can only assume that they loosened slightly as the RTV squished into seams over the hour. I hope I didn't mess up on something there. We'll see.

 

[Patrick0329]

Well, with the whole Coronavirus shelter at home going on, looking at doing the oil pan gasket myself as the car won't be needed anytime soon. Reading through this thread has been really helpful but I did have a couple questions. When folks have done the oil pan, what did you use to clean up the surface where the new gasket will sit? I've seen some videos where people use a rubber, kind of nobby looking "scratch pad" type thing because it won't break down and gives you less of a chance of some residue breaking off the cleaning tool and ending up in your pan. Is there a specific tool at Oreilly or something I should look for. The other question was on the adhesive you apply to the corners, would you apply it to both sides of the gasket? I may be overthinking this but I'm basically a do my brakes and change my oil level of mechanic. Any idea on how long this type of job should take me? I'll probably just assume double what you all tell me

It's a 2007 Suburban so if there's any other gremlins I should look out for, I'm all ears. I think the rear seal is leaking too but I'm going to leave that one to my mechanic.

 

[Rocket Man]

Well, with the whole Coronavirus shelter at home going on, looking at doing the oil pan gasket myself as the car won't be needed anytime soon. Reading through this thread has been really helpful but I did have a couple questions. When folks have done the oil pan, what did you use to clean up the surface where the new gasket will sit? I've seen some videos where people use a rubber, kind of nobby looking "scratch pad" type thing because it won't break down and gives you less of a chance of some residue breaking off the cleaning tool and ending up in your pan. Is there a specific tool at Oreilly or something I should look for. The other question was on the adhesive you apply to the corners, would you apply it to both sides of the gasket? I may be overthinking this but I'm basically a do my brakes and change my oil level of mechanic. Any idea on how long this type of job should take me? I'll probably just assume double what you all tell me

It's a 2007 Suburban so if there's any other gremlins I should look out for, I'm all ears. I think the rear seal is leaking too but I'm going to leave that one to my mechanic.

I used a gasket scraper tool ( you can get one at an auto Pratt’s store or Amazon) and Scotchbrite. You don’t need to worry about stuff falling into the pan since you’ll have it off and will clean it out anyway. The RTV just goes on the engine block side at the places in the diagram I posted earlier. I would figure on 4 hours so probably most of a day working at an “at home gonna take a few breaks” pace. Harbor a Freight sells this scraper kit for about $5.

 

[Larryjb]

Patrick,

I'll post my list of steps. Videos, such as the one made by Rickafix are great to see what it's like, but the outline I will post shortly will have bolt sizes, torques etc. Also, it provides a nice checklist to follow to make sure you are installing everything and not skipping a step.

I use CRC Gasket Kleen, then Brake Clean, and then I use a single edge razor to remove any remaining gasket material. Gasket Kleen is great stuff! As long as you keep the razor angle low and work slowly, there is no danger of damaging the mating surface. I used this method to clean the block surface for my head gaskets and they've sealed up just fine.