I was under the dart this weekend finsishing up my disk brake conversion. When I noticed that I had a pretty good oil leak, that seems to be from the pan gasket. But it looks like close clearance for getting the pan off. Can I just unbolt the motor mounts and jack it up ? Or do I need to plan on pulling the motor ?

Thanks

I did mine without pulling the engine. Not easy or fun but definitly do-able. You have to lift the enigine off the mounts and everything that entails. I had to drop the centerlink on steering linkage as well. If it's an automatic you have to remove the tranny cooling hoses. Also getting the pan screws off and on is a pain. I also had to remove the starter and tranny cover plate. Jacking the engine from underneath is tricky. An engine hoist would be recommended. You can jack the tranny but it's tight. The shroud of the radiator has to be removed. Also you have to turn the enigine over to get the crankshaft counterweights out of the way to get the pan out. All in all it took me about 6 hours. I used Permatex Right Stuff for the sealer. The next time the pan comes off I will have to pull the motor because there is no way I will be getting the it loose the next time. BTW I would not recommend the Right Stuff because it dries to soon allowing me very little time to get it all back together and tight.

One other note, you might try and locate the exact place it is leaking and get it clean and put on some of the Right Stuff around the leak.

Also check your PCV valve and make sure it's working properly as the pressure inside the crakcase can increase with a faulty PCV causing more leaking.

One other this is to make darn sure it really is the pan. I would hate you to dig into the pan and have it be something else like a oil pressure sending unit or valve cover gasket.

Good luck.

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Sweet Emotion