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Inline 5cyl Petrol engine tech / Valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket on '93 5cyl
« on: October 04, 2015, 06:57:33 pm »
I decided to replace the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket this weekend on my '93 and had some tips since I couldn't find much documentation. I had some minor leaks I wanted to get rid of so I can pick up on new leaks easier. I don't know all the correct terminology so let me know if you have a question.
The valve cover gasket was pretty easy. Just unbolt the radiator and swing it out to get more room, then there are 4 nuts under the rubber caps that secure the gasket. You don't need to take the filler cap off but it might help since you can reach into the hole and pull up when you are working the gasket/valve cover off. The gasket gets pretty attached to the block so it might take some force to get it free, just try not to bend it. There is a spark plug wire holder piece that sort of gets in the way of pulling the cover off, the hex hole bolt that held it was pretty rusted on in my engine but I was able to lever the cover past that piece with a screwdriver without removing it. I didn't have a good way to get the PCV valve off, it snapped. I would plan on replacing this part or just leave it alone if it is not leaking since it was pretty brittle from being 23 years old on my engine! Europarts-sd has this part, right now I have it working with a generic PCV and some tubing adapters until I can get the part in. The generic seems to work fine, just not as elegant. The gasket was also pretty baked on so I chipped it off with a wood shim. A plastic scraper would also work, I was just concerned about metal scratching the inside. Then just clean the surfaces and apply your gasket. I got a reinzosil gasket and it seemed to work well.
The oil pan gasket was hell, mostly because I left the axle on. It would be a lot easier if you took the passenger axle off. There are three hex hole bolts that gave me trouble, two are on the bottom from the transmission to the oil pan, not too hard but you need a lot of torque to get them free. The hardest bolt is the same as these but it is above the axle (not really the axle but part of the transmission that extends to the axle? not sure what the name is) so you can't really see it. It also switches direction, going from the oil pan and threading into the transmission. I ended up stripping it since you don't have much room to work and it's hard to apply torque. Someone might have a better idea, I think I would have had better luck if I cut the rounded head part of my hex socket extensions so that I had a better grip on the bolt. I used a drill and dremel to remove the head of it since it was stripped but I probably would have just left the old gasket in if I had realized that this bolt was up there and such a pain. Try to get this one off first. Since that bolt isn't part of the oil pan seal I just left it without a head but I could remove it if I ever got the transmission out. I could maybe have removed it with the oil pan out but it's pretty tight.
There is also a hex head bolt that is a pain since there is not much room to remove it with the axle there. It's also near the top part of the pan. What ended up working there was using my small 1/4 inch driver with a pretty short socket.
The rest of the bolts aren't too bad unless you accidentally strip them. I would have replaced them but had trouble finding the part number for them and most were in good shape. Some are sort of behind the axle but the rounded head socket hex extensions I had worked on them since the angle wasn't too great.
There are two hex hole bolts hidden by a.. flywheel? I'm not sure what it's called, but there are access holes and you can get your extension in there to get the bolts out. If you have a magnet to magnetize the tip of your tool it might help. You will need to rotate the metal disk using the pulley on the bottom of the engine, you can put a socket on it.
Anyways, that's how I replaced both gaskets without dropping the axle. I would have probably just left the oil pan on if I knew how hard it was but it's in now!
The valve cover gasket was pretty easy. Just unbolt the radiator and swing it out to get more room, then there are 4 nuts under the rubber caps that secure the gasket. You don't need to take the filler cap off but it might help since you can reach into the hole and pull up when you are working the gasket/valve cover off. The gasket gets pretty attached to the block so it might take some force to get it free, just try not to bend it. There is a spark plug wire holder piece that sort of gets in the way of pulling the cover off, the hex hole bolt that held it was pretty rusted on in my engine but I was able to lever the cover past that piece with a screwdriver without removing it. I didn't have a good way to get the PCV valve off, it snapped. I would plan on replacing this part or just leave it alone if it is not leaking since it was pretty brittle from being 23 years old on my engine! Europarts-sd has this part, right now I have it working with a generic PCV and some tubing adapters until I can get the part in. The generic seems to work fine, just not as elegant. The gasket was also pretty baked on so I chipped it off with a wood shim. A plastic scraper would also work, I was just concerned about metal scratching the inside. Then just clean the surfaces and apply your gasket. I got a reinzosil gasket and it seemed to work well.
The oil pan gasket was hell, mostly because I left the axle on. It would be a lot easier if you took the passenger axle off. There are three hex hole bolts that gave me trouble, two are on the bottom from the transmission to the oil pan, not too hard but you need a lot of torque to get them free. The hardest bolt is the same as these but it is above the axle (not really the axle but part of the transmission that extends to the axle? not sure what the name is) so you can't really see it. It also switches direction, going from the oil pan and threading into the transmission. I ended up stripping it since you don't have much room to work and it's hard to apply torque. Someone might have a better idea, I think I would have had better luck if I cut the rounded head part of my hex socket extensions so that I had a better grip on the bolt. I used a drill and dremel to remove the head of it since it was stripped but I probably would have just left the old gasket in if I had realized that this bolt was up there and such a pain. Try to get this one off first. Since that bolt isn't part of the oil pan seal I just left it without a head but I could remove it if I ever got the transmission out. I could maybe have removed it with the oil pan out but it's pretty tight.
There is also a hex head bolt that is a pain since there is not much room to remove it with the axle there. It's also near the top part of the pan. What ended up working there was using my small 1/4 inch driver with a pretty short socket.
The rest of the bolts aren't too bad unless you accidentally strip them. I would have replaced them but had trouble finding the part number for them and most were in good shape. Some are sort of behind the axle but the rounded head socket hex extensions I had worked on them since the angle wasn't too great.
There are two hex hole bolts hidden by a.. flywheel? I'm not sure what it's called, but there are access holes and you can get your extension in there to get the bolts out. If you have a magnet to magnetize the tip of your tool it might help. You will need to rotate the metal disk using the pulley on the bottom of the engine, you can put a socket on it.
Anyways, that's how I replaced both gaskets without dropping the axle. I would have probably just left the oil pan on if I knew how hard it was but it's in now!