• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Oil pan

Share this page

SMGoose

SMGoose

Senior Member
Offline
The TR4 is running well but in the process of an oil change, I wanted to change the oil pan gasket. I have all the bolts removed, but can't get the pan to come off. Any tips? Starting to wish I had just left it alone and enjoyed the weather today!

I'm tempted to just bolt it back up and finish the oil change, but there was a bit of sludge in the filter and I really want to clean out the sump.

Thanks!
 
You probably should remove all the bolts as well :smile:

Odds are that someone has glued it together with Permatex or similar, so you are going to have to rip the gasket in half the long way to get the pan off.

I'd start by rapping on the sides as much as you can with a rubber mallet. Some prying may help. In extreme cases, I have had to drive a thin putty knife through the gasket to crack it loose. Of course, afterwards you have to repair the damage to the flange (as well as thoroughly cleaning off the old gasket from both surfaces).
 
I had the same problem the first time I tried to remove the oil pan on my TR3. Someone had pretty well glued the thing together. Rapping on the side with a rubber mallet may help, but (a) posible won't and (b) you don't want to dent the pan. I had to use a very thin putty knife to get the thing loose. Rather than prying up and down, I let the knife's natural prying do the job as you gently tap it in and cut the gasket.

Try to aim for the gasket itself and not the upper or lower flange, if possible. You don't want to gauge or scratch the flanges. If you tap the knife gently at multiple spots, methodically, it wil eventually come off. It's a bit tricky because you don't want the pan to suddenly come off and fall on you.
 
Ha yeah I had "boots" written in there at first...

I'll try a putty knife. I'd already pounded a bit with a rubber mallet. Problem is, there's not much room to try to pry with anything.
 
Well that was quick
Must of had the knife in one hand and keyboard in the other
 
Haha yeah I was posting from the phone. Didn't want to draw out an unnecessary conversation. And once I got it off, I needed a sandwich anyway!

I am extremely anxious! Yesterday I put new gaskets on the fuel bowls and jets, put in the new condenser and a new set of spark plugs (Champion this time). Today I it for a spin to warm up the oil, and it ran great! I even tempted fate by turning it off with the key and, to my relief, no running-on! Hopefully, after the oil pan, my next post will be a major update/recap with pictures and thank-yous.
 
Didn't you, in between gaskets and spark plugs, drop in a new gearbox? Minor thing, I suppose you just forgot.
 
Oh yes, easy to forget! Actually, the gearbox has been in for a week now and all buttoned up. But since then I've had to resume the fixing of my ignition that I had put on hold for the gearbox. But now that that's all taken care of, oil change! Maybe I should just rebuild the engine while I'm at it...
 
Back
Top