i was told that the oil pan gasket was leaking and needed to be replaced in my '70 skylark. is the oil pan easily removed or will I have to raise the engine etc.?
you will need to raise the engine about 3-4 inches... according to my 72 service manual. I replaced my oil pan gasket, but I had the engine out at the time. well after I had the engine back in the car I noticed the back edge of the gasket near the flywheel was totally outside the pan... DOH !! ou: without raising the engine, I was able to loosen the pan and push it back in.. There was no room to remove the pan or old gasket. im not totally happy with the gasket now that I had to push it back in. I have the engine nicely detailed, and an holding off on letting the mounts go again. The manual says you can use a piece of wood and a jack agains the crank on the front to raise it. And if you have AC, the engine will have a tendancy to raise faster on the drivers side. I'll know for the next time!! If you'd like see some pictures of my engine out and back in, you can click here http://spaces.msn.com/cstanley44/photos/
Oil leak I don't doubt that the oil pan is leaking, but I wouldn't be surprised that the rear main was leaking also. You can spin a new rope seal in with the engine still in the car, but it's not the easiest thing in the world. I'd hate to see you go to all of the trouble of changing that pan gasket, just to still have a leak somewhere else. If it's an automatic, you may be able to get a look at it by taking off the inspection cover and looking down the back side of the block for an oil trail. Good luck!
