Hi
I need a DIY for replacing the oil pan gasket on a 1998 Civic EX, anything I need to look out for.

Thanks

 

Replacing the oil pan gasket is pretty straight forward. One thing to watch out for is to not overtighten the bolts when you reinstall the pan. Strip one or two out and your screwed.

Oh Yeah, and drain the oil first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

make sure you put no torque on at first so that you get all the bolts on, then torque in a sequence so that they're evenly torqued and so not to warp the pan. Torque wrench would be ideal for this, so you don't leak

 

Good tip on using a torque wrench to tighten the bolts to OEM specs.

 

i broke the head off one the bolts before i reached factory torque spec. the rest held tho

 

make sure to put some grey RTV sealer on the seams where you can see some left over from the factory assembly. just smear a real thin film over the seams were the block joins to make it smooth. once you get in there all of that will make more sense.

whenever i have an oil pan off i like to look in the oil pickup screen with a flashlight to see if there is any crap in there.

oh, and don't forget the exhaust downpipe will have to come off, don't round-off the bolts...

have fun

 

one more thing... sometimes the old gasket gets fused to the pan and it sucks to take off. you'll spend and hour and a half scraping it off with a razor, just be sure you get it all off

 

Just finished mine tonight. There didn't seem to be any leaks, I will check again tomorrow. Good luck