The top corner of my pan is coated with a dirt/oil mixture which seems to be coming from the gasket area of the oil pan.

One thing that I noticed about that area is that there is a good sized hole with no bolt in it, the picture shows the hole I'm talking about.

Does a bolt go through this hole?
What size/length?

Why is it larger than the other holes around the pan?

Thanks guys!

 

If I remember right, no, no bolt through that. No particular reason for the hole, it's just there. lol
Should be one on the other side.

You will need to remove all that gasket material with a good razor blade before putting the pan back on with the new gasket. Make sure there's no oil anywhere on the block. That pan looks really beat up. You might want to invest in a new pan, 'though.

 

Just in case, before you spend a bunch of time looking for one, there is no gasket for the whole pan on '97+, just the small rubber one on the end of the pan just out of the photo. The rest is strictly liquid gasket (Ultra Flange II is what my local dealership sold me for it). I believe my '97 also has that hole there as well.

 

As the others have said, clean that surface really well before trying to re-seal it.

it would be worthwhile to check around for the other common leaks, mainly the o-ring on the back of the oil cooler, which will drip down to the pan area quickly.

One other thing that could get messy right there is a leaky boot on a cv joint, so that would be worth a look as well.

 

Thanks guys, that's not my pan btw, just a google image to show the hole in question.

 

I'm not so sure that the 4th gen pan gasket will not work. The mating surfaces could be the same, I think it's just the pickup that's different which makes for a different pan.