Oil Pan Gasket failed install 98 Accord

[bigfake23]

I went to replace my leaking oil pan on my 98 Accord 4cylinder.

Topic

[fitone]

You should have purchased an oil pan gasket rather than using Hondabond as your gasket. Hondabond was not intended for what you needed in your situation. Only choice is remove pan again and replace with an OEM gasket.

[dreamer2355]

Welcome to the forums.

Did you tighten each oil pan bolt to the correct specifications? Too tight and you may have warped the edges of the oil pan, too loose and it will leak obviously.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Quoted From fitone:

You should have purchased an oil pan gasket rather than using Hondabond as your gasket. Hondabond was not intended for what you needed in your situation. Only choice is remove pan again and replace with an OEM gasket.

Unless you have an aluminum pan you NEED to use a gasket. In addition you need to make sure that you torque the bolts that hold it down evenly, if you over tighten them you’ll be in the same boat you are now. Honda bond also needs time to set up and until it sets up you cannot expose it to ANY oil or contaminants, it needs to fully cure before it will seal. BTW you are also going to have to clean the mating surfaces very well before you install the new gasket or it may leak.

[#NAME?]

I just finished replacing the oil pan gasket on my ’96 civic. Used an OEM gasket and a slight film coating of permatex on either side of the gasket to help hold the gasket in place. Snugged all bolts up, left it to cure for 24 hours, came back, torqued all bolts to spec….not a drop of oil since.

I did this same procedure to my aunt’s ’84 rx7 last june which gets driven pretty hard (rotary engines seem very happy running between 5-8 k rpm T)) and it gets very hot. No leaks so far.

I always like to use gaskets whenever possible. I only use the permatex or rtv just to help hold the gasket in place while installing. As Eric said…you must allow the sealant to cure before adding oil and MAKE SURE the surfaces are clean of all residue. (i use a clean rag with acetone to remove any contaminents)

[outdoorsman310]

+1 on birks post i dont have too muck luck with rtv gaskets they seem to leak instantly or they will leak after a while i have made a few gaskets out of gasket paper and used a light coating of p

[dreamer2355]

Im also a fan of using pre made gaskets over RTV wherever possible C8-)

[J]

+1 on dreamer’s post. Also I generally prefer not to use any type of gasket sealant unless it’s called for in the shop manual. I’ll sometimes use a light coat of Permatex high tack just to get a gasket “sticky” enough to stay in plac

[gaseousmercury]

Quoted From -BiRkS_:

I just finished replacing the oil pan gasket on my ’96 civic. Used an OEM gasket and a slight film coating of permatex on either side of the gasket to help hold the gasket in place. Snugged all bolts up, left it to cure for 24 hours, came back, torqued all bolts to spec….not a drop of oil since.

I did this same procedure to my aunt’s ’84 rx7 last june which gets driven pretty hard (rotary engines seem very happy running between 5-8 k rpm T)) and it gets very hot. No leaks so far.

I always like to use gaskets whenever possible. I only use the permatex or rtv just to help hold the gasket in place while installing. As Eric said…you must allow the sealant to cure before adding oil and MAKE SURE the surfaces are clean of all residue. (i use a clean rag with acetone to remove any contaminents)

+1 On the use of acetone, however, I would suggest brake kleen here over pure acetone because of the likely presence of heavy sludge and old gasket material. Brake Kleen constituites a mixture of acetone and heptane. Heptane, like Octane (i.e. gasoline’s main constituent) is a nonpolar hydrocarbon and therefore dissolves like compounds like oils and such. Heptane is sufficiently volatile that it will not leave an oily residue. It works synergestically with acetone. That’s what makes it such a potent degreaser.

If you are only replacing the gasket only; I would take this time to remove as much sludge as possible. I would run a quart on engine flush for about 20 minutes prior draining the oil. I would drain the oil while it is hot,taking advantage of its decreased viscosity, but I would not drop the pan until everything is cooled down; this will prevent the pan from possibly warping from cooling at a different rate then the block it is mated to. Once the pan is removed pour a quart or so of diesel or mineral spirits into the pan and scrub the pan with a brush. A household dish brush normally suffices. Dump the solvent and repat with fresh until the pan is clean. Then finish it off with the Brake Kleen. Always work in a well ventilated area. Be safe……

[bigfake23]

Thanks everyone for the posts! I am curious when people have mentioned an OEM gasket for my 98 accord. On the parts schematic for my car it does not show a gasket and even the dealer said there is no regular gasket, just use Hondabond. But obviously this hasn’t worked. Does an after market rubber gasket by say felpro seem to be doing the trick pretty well? Thanks again for everybody’s help.

[Matt]

I looked your car up on autozone.com, and they had the Fel-pro gasket in stock. Can’t really go wrong with Fel-Pro gaskets.

[bigfake23]

Thanks Beefy, I’ll give the felpro a try. Now just need to find a free day to do this all over again.

[dreamer2355]

Quoted From bigfake23:

Thanks Beefy, I’ll give the felpro a try. Now just need to find a free day to do this all over again.

I know the feeling.

May you can do a pictorial ‘how to’ for the forums!

Just remember to torque down those oil pan bolts in the correct order and you should be good.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

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