Need to change my oil pan, any tips, suggestions?

[VTEC_Inside]

As the title says, I'm going to need to change the oil pan on my '89 in the next couple weeks. I'm getting a bit annoyed at putting a catch pan underneath the car when I get home with it.

As I understand it, I will have to drop the center crossbeam as well as the exhaust off the manifold to do this.

A quick search here suggested not to use anything other than a genuine Honda OEM gasket when I put on the new pan. An aftermarket pan is considerably cheaper than an OEM one, is there any harm in that?

Should I expect to have to change the gasket where the exhaust meets the manifold?

This is one job that I'm really not looking forward to, but the dealer wants about $200 labour to change it. That $200 can buy the rad and valve cover gasket that it needs :)

Any tips, suggestions, etc. are much appreciated as always.

[88Accord-DX]

Scrap all the gasket material off the oil pan & block. Might be some silicone of some sort on there. Replace the header to exhaust ring. Use a little silicone to hold the gasket in place when installing. Thread in all the bolts before tightening them. Tighten the bolts evenly from the middle outwards in a crisscross pattern. I beleive they are tightened to about 10 ft. lbs.

With the crossmember, don't tighten one side too tight. Just start a few threads & then start the bolts on the other side before tightening them.

[AccordEpicenter]

get all the nuts/bolts started before you tighten 1 down. Dont forget any (duh) use very very little RTV and use a genuine honda oil pan gasket.

[VTEC_Inside]

Thanks for the tips guys. I went to Honda today and ordered a new valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, and the manifold-pipe gasket. $93CAD. Prices weren't that outrageous.

Now I just have to decide where I'm going to get the pan from. I've got 3 different options so far. An aftermarket at $100, another at $130, and the Honda one at $200 (ouch).

[BITESIZE]

Get a pan from the salvage yard.

[VTEC_Inside]

Get a pan from the salvage yard.

I had given it a thought. But given the proceedure to change the thing, I'd rather bite the bullet and put a new one on and not have to worry about it for a while.

[BITESIZE]

Ummm...there are lots and lots of perfectly good oil pans at the salvage yard, for $10 bucks dude! Use the other $90 and buy beer, donuts, porn magazines, and a whore!

[VTEC_Inside]

Ummm...there are lots and lots of perfectly good oil pans at the salvage yard, for $10 bucks dude! Use the other $90 and buy beer, donuts, porn magazines, and a whore!

I'll give it a shot, but I've been to the bone yards around here, and I don't think I'll find one in decent shape...

[AccordEpicenter]

yeah. I only use honda gaskets except for valve cover gaskets i get the cheapest i can find but thats only because they are easy to change. The one time i put in an aftermarket oil pan gasket on my accord i had to change it a little while later, it leaked like a bitch. Went back to a honda gasket, no problems. Ive also reused factory honda oil pan gaskets several several times (4-5x) with no problems

[VTEC_Inside]

yeah. I only use honda gaskets except for valve cover gaskets i get the cheapest i can find but thats only because they are easy to change. The one time i put in an aftermarket oil pan gasket on my accord i had to change it a little while later, it leaked like a bitch. Went back to a honda gasket, no problems. Ive also reused factory honda oil pan gaskets several several times (4-5x) with no problems


Good to know. The oil pan and gasket on the car are Honda. It was changed about 6yrs ago because of the same problem.

Have you had any experience with aftermarket pans?

[AZmike]

Ummm...there are lots and lots of perfectly good oil pans at the salvage yard, for $10 bucks dude! Use the other $90 and buy beer, donuts, porn magazines, and a whore!

Around here many of the pull-a-part yards cut a hole in them. I don't know if it's to discourage people from ruining complete engines or because they're too lazy to remove the drain plug to get the oil out.

[AccordEpicenter]

hmm i really havent seen anybody with an aftermarket pan, cant vouche.. see if you can get one off eGay or somthing, ask somebody parting out a car.

[BITESIZE]

That's wierd because at my pull yard, everyone has been mint.

[zacritz929]

i would suggest that you change your oil filter housing o ring while you change the pan gasket because oil is probably leaking from there and it looks like its the pan gasket...BTW get the 3 oil filter housing bolts too. altogether for the bolts and the o ring it only cost around 10 bucks...its definately worth it.
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=Accord&catcgry2=1988&catcgry3=2DR+LXI&catcgry4=KA5MT&catcgry5=BREATHER+PIPE-OIL+FILTER
use this link but make sure you go back and choose your model and trim level

[VTEC_Inside]

i would suggest that you change your oil filter housing o ring while you change the pan gasket because oil is probably leaking from there and it looks like its the pan gasket...BTW get the 3 oil filter housing bolts too. altogether for the bolts and the o ring it only cost around 10 bucks...its definately worth it.
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=Accord&catcgry2=1988&catcgry3=2DR+LXI&catcgry4=KA5MT&catcgry5=BREATHER+PIPE-OIL+FILTER
use this link but make sure you go back and choose your model and trim level


I'm definitely going to have a good look at anything else I can fix while I'm under there.

Its not the pan gasket thats leaking in my case though. The pan has rotted out pretty bad to the point where oil is seeping through it.

There are definitely other leaks, but not that are bad enough to continuously drip on the driveway.

[zacritz929]

ya. my pan did the same thing so i got a pretty sturdy one from the junkyard, but i would definately change the oil filter housing o ring while your under there.