New Style Pan Gasket ???

Folks, I'm halfway from Connecticut to Montana, and leaving an oil slick every inch of the way. I thought I had correcterd enough of the previous owner's mayhem to have stopped the oil leaks, or at least cut it down to a tiny drip, but halfway across PA on I-80 it became abundantly clear that I thought wrong.

Part of the problem is that someone replaced the timing cover with the new style, but used the old style pan gaskets. My attempt to replace just the gasket across the front of the pan was an abysmal failure. Trial and error (emphasis on "trial") has shown that if I keep the speed down below 60 MPH I can get 300 to 500 miles to a quart of Wal-Mart's cheapest dino juice. I'm going to limp on to Montana and then have a shop replace the entire pan gasket, rather than trying to just do the front cover gasket again.

Since I have never had the pleasure of working with the new style one-piece pan gasket, can someone tell me if it gets coated with any kind of gaslket goop (blue RTV? Indian Head? High Tack?) or if it goes in dry and relies on compression to seal.

I need to know because my friend's mechanic is a small, one-man shop and he probably won't know.

TIA

Eagle

When I used the one piece gasket I still put some rtv on it just to make sure. It did a good job of sealing and I figured better safe than sorry. From my opinion you can't go wrong using rtv. I would however still recommend letting it sit to harden before adding oil and running the engine.

Does anyone know what the FSM calls for on this? PLEASE?

I hate being 1200 miles away from my tools and manuals. By tonight I'll be almost 2000 miles away.

Eagle,

I installed the new gasket on my 88 XJ. The instructions come with it and ONLY tells you to use RTV to fill the holes in the timing cover. You know the ones where the nipples of the factory 4 piece gasket use.

My dealer mechanic told me to use RTV but not as a sealant. He told me to apply a small bead to the block then attach the gasket using the pan bolts. Wait a couple of hours, remove ALL the bolts then install the pan - don't ask me how I know about that one

The RTV it will hold the gasket in place and allow you to bolt up without a problem. It is not acting as a sealant.

I then used a torque wrench and tightened the pan. I forget the torque values but I first torqued the bolts to 50% of the published value, then to 100%. I did a recheck after 10 minutes and they were all holding torque.

I am sure you know this but you will need a good gasket scraper to get the old gasket off the pan and block. I found the portion of the gasket around the exhaust pipe was the hardest to get off. Some of those scotchbrite pads on a rotary sander would be very nice!

The new one piece gasket is made of RTV but has a metal core. It comes on a cardboard so keep it from being damaged. I think I paid around $45 for the one I used.

Only you can make this determination but while you have the pan off it might be smart money to install a new oil pump. If I recall the labor the same or 0.2 hours more to replace the oil pump.

Hope that helps

Martin

You are using the rtv as an adhesive to hold the gasket in place for you so you don't have to juggle the pan and gasket.

Also, my son told me about some fast setting rtv that you can get. I have never used it, but apparently it sets within minutes - it is more expensive of course. It is in the same area as the rtv is - ask at the auto parts store for it.

Tom Dennis