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oil pan is stuck on.....

L

LiftedXJ86

NAXJA Forum User
Location
NC
i just bought a 91 Cherokee Limited 4.0l 4x4 the other day and it had some oil leaking problems. well, not really problems, but a PROBLEM. it would leak 1qt a day after driving. narrowed it down to the RMS. so i pulled it off the road and followed 5-90's writeup. lifted the front axle so it hangs freely, blah blah. anyways, i cant get the oil pan off. i removed all the bolts, and used a putty knife to help break the seal. i got the putty knife to break everything from the crank pulley all the way back to the motor mount bracket on the driverside of the block. the passenger side is alittle further progressed towards the back of the pan.

so my question is, it wont budge without bending the pan, any other ideas?
 
Use a big rubber mallet and bang it on both sides. Unless it's broken loose and you can't get it out. I had to take out the steering stabilizer to get clearance in order to pull out the pan. Off topic, on a scale of 1-10 of difficulty, I'd say its a 4. Unless your doing it on the ground, then its a 6 IMO. The rear mains I've done with the engine in the car, all the upper halfs are a b!tch to get out.
 
I just did my RMS a few weeks ago and had the same problem. I tried for about an hour to get it off and it wouldn't budge. I ended up buying two of these and hammering them in about 3 inches apart on the drivers side front part of the pan. Then I did the same about half way to 2/3's way back on the same side and it popped off. 10 minute job with the right tools. Hour + without.
 
nice. i will pick up a pair of those tonight then.


the seal is still stuck. i hammered on both sides quite hard for atleast 20 minutes and no luck. the only part of the seal thats left is the rear portion. am i going to have to break that seal loose or should a rubber mallet break it loose? i am kinda strapped for room with my big @ss mallet to get a good swing on the side .
 
I can't really help you there. When mine popped off on one side I was able to grap it and pull down on it and the whole pan popped off. I do know that my mallet was to big to get in any good swings so I ended up buying a smaller ballpeen hammer to use. I just taped a shop rag around it.
 
If you can't get the pan itself out of the there, then you can raise the motor with a jack pressing up on the harmonic balancer. Disconnect the motor mounts first though. I did my rms a couple weeks back and the pan was a MF to get out. hope this helps.
 
jk333 said:
If you can't get the pan itself out of the there, then you can raise the motor with a jack pressing up on the harmonic balancer. Disconnect the motor mounts first though. I did my rms a couple weeks back and the pan was a MF to get out. hope this helps.
Click to expand...

He hasnt even gotten to that step yet... hes still trying to get the pan of the block :gee:
 
I'm not sure about this but, the 2 4.0 rear mains I've done, they both had rubber/metal pan gaskets and were no big deal to remove, so maybe your 4.0 has cork gaskets and their sticking. Try to pry on the timing cover gasket area, they used RTV on them.
 
LiftedXJ86 said:
nice. i will pick up a pair of those tonight then.


the seal is still stuck. i hammered on both sides quite hard for atleast 20 minutes and no luck. the only part of the seal thats left is the rear portion. am i going to have to break that seal loose or should a rubber mallet break it loose? i am kinda strapped for room with my big @ss mallet to get a good swing on the side .
Click to expand...
I just re-read this and are you talking about the seal on the pan or the actual RMS itself?
 
I pulled min last year, 88 severly old cork gasket. I used a piece of 2x4 snuggly held against the pan and then whacked that with small sledge. popped it free after a few minutes. if you go shoving things into that gasket area be careful, as you can scratch the surface fairly easily
 
the oil pan gasket is what i have in question. i havent even made it to the rms yet.

thanks for all the input so far. i will be trying them tomorrow!

*edit*

also, on the flex plate, one of the 3/4" bolt, on the driverside near the downpipe, how the hell are you to get that out? i am thinking about just pulling out my cutting wheel and cut it off. then, just replace it but the head on the opposing side and the nut inbetween the plate and downpipe.
 
Be prepared. My oil pan gasket was a bitch to get off but so was the RMS. Both parts of it. They were as stuck as the oil pan gasket but it was more tedious work because you can't just bang on it with a mallet. I had to hit each piece with a punch at least 50 times before they broke loose enough to be able to grap with needle nose plyers. I am not saying yours will be the same way I am just passing on my experience. Good luck.
 
On my 89 all I did was disconnect the sway bar, put it an jack stands and remove the starter and my oil pan came out. I had no interference with the exhaust.
 
the bolt i was refering to is on the flexplate. there is one bolt that wont come out unless i disconnect the exhaust from the manifold. anyways, that can easily be solved with my cutting wheel. no worries.

thanks for all the headsup though.
 
i was able to massage my tranny access plate out without getting that bolt out. i just loosened it. had i been able to get it out i would have DEFINATELY put it in the other way. it really sucks how its in now.....

X2 on the push up on the balancer pulley after unbolting the motor mounts
 
thor.jpg
 
lol, broke it loose today after 10 minutes with a pry bar. bad news is, i have to take it into the shop to have them re-seal the pan. RMS was a breeze. All in all it took me 4 1/2hrs.
 
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