replace oil pan gasket in car?

[my8950]

I am looking at doing my oil pan gasket in the 88 XR, it is leaking a bit out of the front, as well as both sides are swollen and pretty close to being completely squished out from between the block and pan.
I’ve read in the repair manual, drop things out from the bottom of the car. This is what I am planning to attempt, I am wondering if anyone here has done this, any suggestions or things to know?
Does the k-member need to come completely out to remove the oil pan, or can you get it out by loosening the bolts and dropping k-member but not removing, lift engine with the top side engine hanger up to the bottom of the trans tunnel?
Anything else? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

[Matt01]

ya the subframe has to be dropped enough to slide out the oil pan. if you dont want to fully remove the pan, you can just lower it enough to put a new seal around, you'll still need to drop it a few inches. You'll need to support the engine from above, probably disconnect the shocks, brake lines, sway bar, dont remember, been a while.

Not a terribly fun job I must say.

[my8950]

Not expecting it to be fun, but necessary.
Car has been leaking oil for a while, but the leak stepped up to the next magnitude after last winter.

At this time my plan is to do from bottom, change engine mounts as well, until I see the next thing that needs to be done.

[Ed Lijewski]

I'd be inclined to pull the motor. Not too much more work, if any more. But the odds of getting the gasket perfectly fitted at rear are high, compared to doing it from below


YMMV

[my8950]

I'd be inclined to pull the motor. Not too much more work, if any more. But the odds of getting the gasket perfectly fitted at rear are high, compared to doing it from below


YMMV

I thought the same thing the whole time I was processing this in my head to prepare. I started on it last night and made good progress for the hours I had to work, in my opinion. If it goes this good trying to do from the bottom, it is a lot less work than pulling the complete engine. Plus, if I did that, I'd be opening a whole separate can of worms. I'd want to do clutch, paint engine bay, this, that, the other...I'm trying to avoid that with this specific car, I've got an actual project car that has been neglected to keep this one going which I need to try and focus my time on. We'll see what happens.

[my8950]

So far, I've got about 2.5hours in on this and I'm stuck, I was going to make an engine hanger/support, but seems to be less to just purchase one.
Cross member is ready to drop. After discussing with my wife tonight, I think this has been almost easier than doing an oil change on the same car.
Not done yet, not apart all the way, but...I'm scared that trying to put t back together I'll run into an issue which will pay me back and make this a huge PITA...hopefully not!

[my8950]

I went after it by removing from the bottom.
Remove starter.
Disconnect control arms from the k-member and move them out of the way a bit.
Take the clips off the brake lines and slide them out of the way, they also fit through the k-member, do not need to undo brake lines.
Remove rack bolts from k-member, disconnect the coupler from steering shaft.
I got an engine hanger and supported engine from the top.
Break the 4 bolts loose that hold the k-member in, let them down slowly, then remove the k-member.
Remove the oil pan.

So far so good.
My oil pan gasket was cooked, a handful of areas that were separated.
Clean it all up, new motor mounts, new pan gasket, paint some stuff, put it back together.

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[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

Inside a building with good lighting and a lift. Nice. It's not fun under a car, outside, in Ohio, in the middle of winter, in the driveway or worse yet out in the street. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

[my8950]

Inside a building with good lighting and a lift. Nice. It's not fun under a car, outside, in Ohio, in the middle of winter, in the driveway or worse yet out in the street. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

Lift is nice, the lighting is not so great even though there is a lot of light on the ceiling.
Trouble lights are a pain, but it is what it is.
It's cold and snowy here as well, but it is winter, so...

[my8950]

Car is done and back together. Fill everything up and started it last weekend to let it warm up, circulate oil and see if any leaks show up. So far, nothing. Used a few cans of foaming engine cleaner to try and get all the grease and grime off the bottom, then powerwasher. Much cleaner and nice looking now, still some oil residue on certain areas, but overall 100x better. Since clean, I also painted the rockers area of the bottom on the car with POR to help keep the rust off.
Waiting for some rain to come through here and wash the salt off the roads, I'll get it out and start driving it to see how it goes. Lots of new stuff, curious to see what happens next.

[Ed Lijewski]

curious to see what happens next

Should be the signature of all Merkur Owners' posts.

[Would make a perfect slogan for the next Merkur T-Shirt...]

YMMV

[my8950]

A few photos of the cleaner side...

[my8950]

And more...

[my8950]

and thats it...

[Ed Lijewski]

The lift makes a difference for this job, but maybe most important is not rushing to completion if at all possible.

YMMV