My oil pan is leaking do i need to disconnect the trans from the engine to get it out or can i just lift the engine a bit to get it out

 

I stripped the drain plug bolt and decided to throw on a new pan instead of risking getting metal shavings in the engine by helicoiling it. Here is what I did to swap the pan (and gasket). However, attempt at your own risk

1. Get three bottle jacks, plus jack stands (I used a floor jack to get the front of the car off the ground)

2. Remove the driver's side catalytic convertor cover, starter, torque convertor cover (not sure if manual's have anything), air intake piping

3. There are flat spots on each side of the front of the transmission under the convertor cover. I put jack stands under those two spots and lifted it enough to get the weight off of the engine mounts and take those bolts out (I used some 4x6 boards to get the bottle jacks closer to what they were lifting)

4. I put the third bottle jack underneath the harmonic balancer and tried to lift the engine up evenly on those three jacks.(I put this one here to prevent the any shifting of weight to the front of the car)

5. Only lift it as high as you need to or you will bend things (3-4 inches I think, enough to slide the pan out beneath the baffling)

6.The rest should be easy to do, just be careful with the transmission coolant lines, which are clipped to the passenger side of the pan. I disconnected them before I started- which drained some of the fluid, so remeber to add some more

Use it if you want it, good luck in whatever you do.

 

By the way, I only did what I did because I didn't have an engine hoist, I imagine it would be a lot easier if you have that.

 

Helps to post what engine you're running, assuming it's an LT1, I
suggest you make sure it's your oil pan that's leaking. There are a lot of common leaks that aren't the oil pan:

waterpump drive gear seal
oil level sensor seal
rear intake area

 

Actually if your just replacing the gasket itself, you don't need to remove the tranny nor do you need to lift the motor. Trust me, I did it last weekend by just unbolting the oil pan, starter, and y-pipe and I was able to put the new gasket on by sliding it under and around the pan. Hopefully that makes sense. Any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.

Buddy