I am replacing the oil pan gasket on my brother's 93 Del Sol Si, D16Z6 engine. We bought a new one from Honda, and both the old one and the new one appeared to have those metal rings/washers, but only in the 2 bolt holes on each corner (8 total). Is this correct? When I tighten the rest of the nuts/bolts to 9 ft/lbs (with my new $100 Craftsman torque wrench), it looks like the gasket is squishing out between the oil pan and the block, along the middle portion of the pan (the long sides). Is this normal?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am replacing the oil pan gasket on my brother's 93 Del Sol Si, D16Z6 engine. We bought a new one from Honda, and both the old one and the new one appeared to have those metal rings/washers, but only in the 2 bolt holes on each corner (8 total). Is this correct? When I tighten the rest of the nuts/bolts to 9 ft/lbs (with my new $100 Craftsman torque wrench), it looks like the gasket is squishing out between the oil pan and the block, along the middle portion of the pan (the long sides). Is this normal?</TD></TR></TABLE>

your gasket should be all black rubber with no metal of any sort...weird...

 

nope, there are 8 small metal washers in the 2 corner holes on each corner of the gasket. Both the original and new Honda gasket have them, I was just wondering if there was supposed to be metal washers on the rest of them, or if it's bad that the gasket is squishing out near the middle of the oil pan.

 

like i said weird... i just replaced my on my z6 and it was all rubber no metal. and all other previous engine oil pan gaskets have never had any metal ring or washer on the gasket itself...

maybe the delsols use a different oilpan than the 92-95 civic z6 engines??? weird...

 

yeah i just bought a fel-pro oilpan gasket for my sis' 94 civic ex (D16Z6) and it has no metal in it either.

I've changed em before but i used a 1/4 drive ratchet so i wouldn't over torque the gasket which would distort it and cause it to leak. Maybe thats what the metal things are for in your so you dont over torque it. I did learn that the pan must be very clean as does the block need to be oil free. You can use a couple dabs of honda-bond or ultra-gray permatex to hold the gasket in place. I've never really noticed the gasket squishing out any too much or if at all.

 

It really shouldn't be squashed out. Maybe if you used the wrong tightening pattern. Make sure you follow that. OIl leaks from your pan suck, especially since you need to take off the exhaust to take the damn thing back off.

 

There should be 1 metal ring on the end. But i thought they stopped making gaskets like that cuase i havent seen them for a while. But anyway dont worry about it i think it used to be to prevent breaking the gasket.

 

Hrm, didn't know there were any washers...what order did u tighten the bolts in..?

 

I just replaced my whole oil pan with a new gasket and I didn't notice any metal washers.

Your gasket for sure should not be squising out.

You have to tighten the bolts in a certain order. Are you sure you are torquing them to the correct specs?

 

the washers are so you dont over tighten in those areas. over tightening oil pan gasket = leaks from hell. good quality gaskets have the ring in every hole, medium quality the corners, and standard no rings. i honestly prefer no rings though. just my opinion

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by postman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the washers are so you dont over tighten in those areas. over tightening oil pan gasket = leaks from hell. good quality gaskets have the ring in every hole, medium quality the corners, and standard no rings. i honestly prefer no rings though. just my opinion</TD></TR></TABLE>

So you're saying we got a medium quality gasket from the Honda dealer?

And yes I was tightening it in the criss-cross pattern shown in the Helm's manual, starting with the center rear bolt and working out. I set my torque wrench to 9.5 ft-lbs because I had a long extension on there. But even at 9 lb-ft. the gasket looked like it was squishing out a bit.

But anyway, got everything back together and I didn't see any noticeable oil coming down when we started the engine. I told my brother to put some cardboard or something under the car tonight and see if there's anything on it tomorrow.

If I did in fact over tighten it, am I just screwed and would have to buy another gasket, or worse, a whole new oil pan?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

So you're saying we got a medium quality gasket from the Honda dealer?

And yes I was tightening it in the criss-cross pattern shown in the Helm's manual, starting with the center rear bolt and working out. I set my torque wrench to 9.5 ft-lbs because I had a long extension on there. But even at 9 lb-ft. the gasket looked like it was squishing out a bit.

But anyway, got everything back together and I didn't see any noticeable oil coming down when we started the engine. I told my brother to put some cardboard or something under the car tonight and see if there's anything on it tomorrow.

If I did in fact over tighten it, am I just screwed and would have to buy another gasket, or worse, a whole new oil pan? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Naw, they're rather flexible, you should be able to re-seat it, but I doubt you've overtightened it, I like no washers :-\ - I've never seen one with 2 washers like you said, but if ur doing them all to 9.5lbs (and that's the correct torque specs according to the helms), then I'd recommend just getting one w/o any rings on it... If it's squished it may leak, it may not, but why take any chances?