Hank'sZ28

Hey guys,

For those who have been plagued with a leaky oil pan gasket in your LS1 equipped Camaro like I have, use this guide to walk you through the replacement procedure:

1) Drain the crankcase.

2) Support the engine with suitable support fixture. Thankfully one of my buddies lent me one but for those who do not have access to this piece of equipment, I will try to look up an alternate way of performing the procedure. Any suggestions are welcome!

3) Remove or disconnect the following:

• Negative battery cable
• Starter motor
• Oil filter
• Left and right engine mount-to-cradle bolts
• Left and right lower shock bolts
• Intermediate steering shaft bolt

4) Support the engine cradle.

• Oil level sensor
• Left and right closeouts

5) Loosen the six cradle bolts.

6) Lower the cradle and remove the oil pan.

7) Drill out the oil pan gasket rivets and remove the gasket from the oil pan.

8) Discard the old gasket and rivets.


**diagram courtesy of gmpartsgiant.com

--Installation--

1) Apply a 0.2 inch (5mm) bead of sealant RTV sealer 0.8 inch (20mm) long to the engine block. Apply the sealant directly onto the tabs of the front cover gasket that protrudes into the oil pan surface

2) Pre-assemble the oil pan gasket to the pan.

3) Install or connect the following:

• Gasket onto the pan
• Oil pan bolts to the pan through the gasket
• Oil pan, gasket and bolts to the engine block. Snug the oil pan bolts finger-tight. Do not overtighten.
• 2 lower bellhousing bolts to position the oil pan correctly. Snug the lower bellhousing bolt finger-tight. Do not overtighten.

4) Tighten the bolts as follows:

• Tighten the oil pan-to-block and oil pan-to-oil pan front cover bolts to 18 ft. lbs. (25 Nm).
• Tighten the oil pan-to-rear cover bolts to 106 inch lbs. (12 Nm).
• Tighten the bellhousing bolts to 37 ft. lbs. (50 Nm) for models with a manual transmission or 70 ft. lbs. (95 Nm) for models with an automatic transmission.

5) Install or connect the following:

• Engine cradle. Torque the upper four bolts to 92 ft. lbs. (125 Nm) and the lower two bolts to 107 ft. lbs. (145 Nm).
• Side closeouts and bolts. Tighten the bolts to 106 inch lbs. (12 Nm).
• Starter motor. Torque the bolts to 37 ft. lbs. (50 Nm).
• Oil level sensor. Torque it to 26 ft. lbs. (35 Nm).
• Intermediate steering shaft bolt. Torque the bolt to 35 ft. lbs. (47 Nm).
• Left and right lower shock bolts. Torque the bolts to 48 ft. lbs. (65 Nm).
• Left and right engine mount-to-cradle bolts. Torque the bolts to 43 ft. lbs. (58 Nm).
• Oil filter
• Negative battery cable

6) Refill the crankcase.

7) Start the engine and check for leaks.

As I mentioned earlier, if you have any supplemental information that you would like to contribute to this thread then please do!

AL SS590 M6

Did you have a bad gasket from the factory or was the engine apart at some previous time?
I've had the pan off from 3 different LS1s and always reuse the gasket. None of them leak.