I was working on my 273 powered dart last night, putting a new rear-main seal and oil pan gasket on the engine.

I hate oil leaks. So I put Ultra Black silicone,as thin a layer as I could get with my finger on both sides of the cork gasket and on the rubber end pieces as well.

My Mopar Engine Manual says 15 ft lbs of torque on the oil pan gasket. Does that seem right?

I ask because the gasket started to squeeze out at one of the rear corners with the rubber end seal. I have guessed that the silicone still being slightly wet, provided a bit of lubrication that allowed the gasket to move. I only made it to 40 in.lbs. before I quit torquing last night.

Do you think I can now finish torquing after 24+ hours to the spec in the book? Assuming that the silicone has now dried enough to not help the gasket move.

Should I even torque it to 15 ft.lbs in the first place?

P.S., I ask this question here, because MOPARTS is almost worthless nowadays. At least that is the impression I have from the last few times I have tried to get some help.

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My cars are all gone, my new affliction is my Jeep Cherokee. I have lifted it, put some armor on it, and preparing for new gears and lockers. After that, bumpers, on-board air and a winch.

Geez, tough crowd here. No slant = no help. I know that this forum is dedicated to slants but I thought this question could be generally useful to others who might experience the same thing but with their slant.

I thought this question had value to the whole community otherwise I would not have asked it. The answer to this quesion could help someone doing an oil pan on their slant. Or is a slant 6 oil pan profoundly different than the small block.(I believe they have rubber end pieces).

Anyways, I will wait a while longer before I give up hope that some folks here can help me. Anything is better than waiting for a response on Moparts.

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My cars are all gone, my new affliction is my Jeep Cherokee. I have lifted it, put some armor on it, and preparing for new gears and lockers. After that, bumpers, on-board air and a winch.

Never had any experience w/ a 270, but when I put the pan on my /6, I had a similar problem. I just pushed it in w/ my fingers while I tightened it down. It was a bit of a pain and nice and messy, but it seems to have worked. Not sure about the torque values though; I just used the "tighten it till it feels right" approach.

I think you're past the point of any ideas helping you as you already have the squeeze out.............

What I do with oil pan gaskets is clean everything (engine & pan), and then glue the gasket to the pan, set upside down with some weight on top (and deal with any none flat surfaces with rags) and wait for it to dry. (use plasticwrap at any point it might stick to something you don't want it to).

Once dry, I'll smear more goop on the gasket and install, since the gasket has been glued on the pan, it doesn't squeeze out or move.


Normally 15ftlbs sounds about right, at least 100 inlbs.


If it's dry, you should be able to torque it down. But I'd be inclined to not go past 10ftlbs as you already have it glued........ (try 100 inlbs, if it doesn't leak leave it alone)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

well I have a 1971 MOTOS book covers back to 1965 but has no torque listed for the oil pan, but it dose list the exh manafold @ 15 ftlbs, seems like that would be a bit much for an oip pan. I will look around in some other books is nobody else comes up with something.

sweet ride

My factory manual says 200in lb, which is a little more than yours says, so it shouldn't be a problem with over-tightening.

I've never had a problem with the gasket squeezing out, but I don't use silicone either. I use nothing on the rubber and and a film of adhesive on the cork, more to hold it in place than to add any sealing quality.

I suppose the silicone could make the rubber slip, but it seems to me that after it set up, you would lose the sealing effect and might even make it worse.

Oh, for christ's sake, please don't whine.

RTV on cork gasket = slippery slide effects you experienced. There is no need to apply gookum or "sealer" to the cork gaskets. The gasket is the seal! Spend your time making sure the oil pan rails are flat and true, especially around the bolt holes. If you feel you must apply some kind of gookum to the gasket, make it spray-type Copper Cote, which dries tacky rather than remaining slippery.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Maybe, maybe not.......

All I know is that since I started gluing the gasket to the pan, let dry, then apply glue and bolt up to the engine;

I've never had a leak.

And considering what a pain some oil pans are, I'm sticking with this method..

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

One thing to consider... most gasket sealers that I've used specify applying a light coat to all surfaces to be sealed and then letting sit or 5 or 10 minutes until it skims over before assembling. Sometimes I'll skip that step, but on anything that I really want to seal right the first time I always do it, and I rarely have any leaks.

The key there is very light coat. Use just enough RTV to make the gasket 'shine'. You should not be able to tell what color the RTV is on the gasket.

My $0.02