Hey guys, I have a 98 GSR with a leaky oil pan gasket. I tried replacing the gasket TWICE now, and they continue to leak. To me it seems like the new gasket (blue Fel-Pro) is a softer material, too soft for the recommended torque spec of 10 ft-lbs (Chilton repair manual). By the time I get the bolts up to 10 ft-lbs the gasket begins to pop out the sides, I would think too much but I was following the manual. I used a torque wrench, tightened in specified order in three different steps as the book recommends.
I have tried the Fel-Pro gasket, which included no special torque specs. Got the same gasket twice now from two different stores, it was the only one carried by All Parts and Kragen. The last time I replaced it the gasket had torn in several places around the bolt holes. My only idea is to go to acura and get an acura gasket and try that one. Any advice would be a great help. Thanks guys.

 

buy an oem gasket and only torque it to 7 or 8 ft lbs.

 

you shore its ft lbs and not inch lbs thats a big differance

 

i've replaced 3 oil pan gaskets with OEM, no probs. the 4th gasket i used the blue fel pro gasket...after roughly 1000 miles, it started to leak...i'll be switching to oem as soon as i get around to it....

 

THE PROBLEM IS YOURE USING FT LBS, NOT IN LBS. INCH POUNDS ARE FOR THE SMALLER BOLTS WHICH DONT HOLD ANYTHING ON THE VEHICLE AT 9K R.P.M.
IF YOU DO FLYWHEEL BOLTS, THOSE ARE AROUND 12 FT LBS IF IM NOT MISTAKEN. THE OIL PAN, TIMING COVER, ETC... ARE INCH LBS.

 

SHOULD HAVE ADDED THIS IN WITH THE OTHER POST, BUT PLEASE TELL US THAT YOU HAVE NOT TORQUED YOUR VALVE COVER BOLTS IN ERROR AS WELL

 

Using an aftermarket fel pro is your problem. Do yourself a huge favor and always use OEM parts. On the OEM gasket each hole has a metal insert to allow proper torque to be reached. This helps distribute the gasket evenly on the surface of the block. BTW its 9 ft-lbs, I have the service manual right next to me. hth

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cory man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Using an aftermarket fel pro is your problem. Do yourself a huge favor and always use OEM parts. </TD></TR></TABLE>

ditto, i work for advanced so i bought my oil pan gaskets from there. 2 of them became brittle and cracked and are now tryin to leave the oil pan. i bought an oem one from honda, i think it was 25 bux. but that one is goin on as soon as it gets warm.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I picked up an OEM gasket and installed it yesterday. We'll see how it goes.
By the way, the OEM gasket had metal pins only around the two bolt holes on the flywheel side. As I was bolting down the gasket, again it started popping out the sides a tiny bit everywhere there weren't metal pins. This time I just stopped torquing when I noticed the gasket starting to pop out. I'm going to watch it closely.
Also, about the torque specs, according to my Chilton repair manual it is 10 ft-lbs. I'd believe Cory man with 9 ft-lbs, but thats not a huge difference. I'm not sure why you some of you guys are saying my prob is that i'm using ft-lbs not inch-lbs. To convert ft-lbs to inch-lbs you just multiply by 12, so technically, if the torque specs are 10 ft-lbs, that would correspond to 120 inch-lbs. My torque wrench is in inch pounds so I dialed in inch-lbs. Saying that I need to use INCH-LBS and not FT-LBS is a pointless statement, throw me some numbers. This is like saying I measured my height wrong because I measured in inches and not feet... Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Your right, he is wrong, according to Darren you would torque them to 9 in/lbs which would be less than 1 ft/lb. Watch out for noobs giving advise on this site!!

First clue was that he typed in all caps, lol.

Darren, if the torque spec was 108 inch/lbs, and he torqued them to 9 ft/lbs, has he torqued them correctly?

 

Helm's manual says 11 N-m, 8 lbf-ft for B18c1 engine in section 7, engine block