Question regarding 308 Trans/Eng. Pan Gaskets.

Chris,

What is most important is that you get the mating surfaces smooth and surgery clean. Run your fingers over the surfaces carefully. If it feels smooth with no high spots it should be OK. Clean both surfaces with laquer thinner on a clean white cloth and keep cleaning untill the white cloth comes up looking clean after wiping. This is very important. You can use RTV silicone if you wipe it on all 4 surfaces very sparingly. I prefer using an anaerobic sealant since whatever squirts inside the engine stays liquid and doesn't plug up your oil pump pick-up screen. I use Wurth flange sealant but Permatex makes a good anaerobic gasket sealant also. Spread it sparingly on all 4 surfaces.

Which way the gasket faces is not important as long as it fits. You should test fit it before applying sealant.

You can dump the oil into the engine as soon as you are done. Make sure you install a new copper seal washer on the drain plug.

Wil

 

Don't be a gorilla when retightening the nuts -- very easy to pull the stud out of the gearbox housing.

 

This spring I didn't change my gaskets, but I did change out all the nuts and washers to SS ones with thread locking/sealing nylon inserts.

It really cut down on the oil seapage down the studs. I simply brought in one of my old nuts to a place called "Fastenal".... I think they are a national chain. Overall, wasn't too expensive $40-$60 if I remember right

 

I agree with Will. Silicone is not the thing to use there. I use Permatex 518, a red anerobic sealant and it is magic.

 

Rifledriver,
Given the smoothness/precision of these mating surfaces, ever try just using 518 w/o a gasket? It's the application that 518 was designed for.

Next time I have one of my sump covers off that's what I'm going to try.

 

I think it would work fine, but I have not done it on an oilpan. I have used it in several places to replace a gasket, like you said it really was designed for gasketless surfaces.

 

Definitely don't use a silicon sealant here - it will inevitably squeeze out on the inside of the pan and end up in the oil and this is precisely the kind of thing to cause a blockage in a critical oil passage. As suggested elsewhere here, better to use a non-silicon gasket form/sealant (permatex is good). Also, it is advisable to use sealant on only one side of the gasket otherwise it can make it very difficult to remove the pan the next time - usually you put the sealant on the part being bolted to the engine. If you ensure the mating surface is true and clean and dry you should be fine.

 

No and since the intro of those cars the engine and trans pans have had cronic leak problems.

Also putting sealant on one side is still alowing the other side to leak. Why not just leave the sealant out and make it easier to change the gasket when the inevitable leak comes? The whole idea in sealing it is so we don't have to remove it again.

 

Sealer, yes. Car's engine trans, no.

Follow the white rag advice above, use the 518 or sparingly some Ultra blue; let it skin for 5~8 minutes. (Allows it to start kicking the aerobic curing process)

Sparingly defined: Apply about the thickness of a hallmark greeting card. Apply to either gaskets 2 surfaces, or the 2 mating surfaces. (No need for overkill!!!!)

P.S. keep the silly cone away from the inner edge so it doesn't squeeze out