I have a Felpro gasket on my pan, and I believe some of the bolts were not torqued correctly which I think is causing a leak. I would assume that the gasket needs to be replaced, but wasn't sure since it is rubber. If I pull this off, and there is no physical damage, does the gasket still need to be replaced?

 

You can reuse a pan gasket if it isn't damaged. I recommend that you use silicone where the pan meets the timing cover and the rear main seal carrier.

It's not easy to change the gasket with he engine in place so be prepared!

Before you dig into the pan look at he oil level sensor...they're plastic and crack if over-torqued.

 

if you feel the pan bolts were not TQ correctly....than just TQ them to spec to confirm and see if the leak stops

assume the pan rails are still on as if not the pan can distort at the bolt without them causing leaks

The rubber pan gasket is re-usable if not torn. Use RTV where the outer horizontal edge of the block meets the curved front timing cover and rear RMS carrier. I use Permatex black "ultra"

If pulling the pan while engine is in the car, rotate engine to #6 TDC. There is more rod clearance that way to slide it out. I have had to lift the engine up about 4-6" to do this, PIA

 

Are you talking about RTV here?


And



If so, I definitely did not do this. Do you just add a thick bead over the gap from front to back? The pic I found also looks like there is RTV on the lower section, is this needed?

 

FelPro says no sealant is needed and some people don't use any and have no leaks...but many, including me, do.

yes where you have the arrows pointing is where most people use RTV between pan gasket & pan. a 1/4" wide bead of RTV is fine. Some do the whole front & back and even the whole pan gasket. No harm or foul if you do the whole pan gasket with RTV

If your pan is the aftermarket one in the pic...maybe do the whole thing, RTV between gasket & pan. There have been many reports of those not sealing as well without RTV

Best to let the RTV sit over night before adding oil and starting motor so it cures.

 

Thanks for the advice. It's a Canton pan, mainly to clear the stroker engine. I'll do some hunting on how to seal this specific pan. At very least I thing getting the corners is a good idea.

 

I just have the stock pan for my stroker, no problems. Only had to push out the front area where #2 rod bolts "barely" scraped pan and that was test fit without the pan gasket so with the thickness of the gasket it would have easily cleared

Your Canton looks like a nice piece and likely holds more oil than stock pan. You can use engine oil dye and a blacklight to see where exactly the oil is leaking from and just address that area if you want. If the motor is in the car getting the pan off can be a real PIA. On the engine stand, simple job.

Unless you can confirm where the leak is originating from on the pan....I would just RTV the whole surface between gasket & pan or at the very least do the 4 areas highlighted in your pic.

This assumes the pan bolts were TQ enough and lose pan bolts are not the problem

 

I have an Eagle crank and had major clearance issues, so I felt the Canton pan added enough value to make it worth the purchase. I just ordered a BMR kmember, and figured this was the perfect time to mess with the pan. Before I can dye test, I need to get the thing running again, but will definitely do that should the pan maintenance not fix the issue.

Thanks for all of the help!

 

Something buried very deep in memory.... not sure, but over the years haven't some people had problems with the Canton pan itself leaking?

 

Hope you don't mind me chiming in here but I was reading posts from other web sites from 2005 and they say Canton says to use cork gaskets on the pans.There's a boat load of posts on this.Might do a search. Hope this helps.

 

I'll do some looking on the cork gasket; I don't recall seeing that when I originally installed. Thanks guys!

 

I doubt a cork gasket will perform better than a modern elastomer gasket. Obviously, you can do what you want.

I suspect you're dealing with a bent pan rail and that means no gasket is going to solve the leak. You may just want to apply a generous amount of Silicone gasket maker to one side on the gasket and tighten to specification...Just my opinion.

 

^^^^ yep....RTV all around the gasket/pan surface should resolve the leak

I also recall, as Fred notes, threads about the Canton being difficult to seal.

 

I plan on taking a straight edge to the pan once I get it out of the car to check for bent rails. The car has a whopping 1500 miles on it in the last 10 years and since the engine was replaced, so I hope the pan is in good condition. I am really hoping for the lack of silicone at the front and rear mains to be the issue.