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Damn I have the worst luck!!! Car question as well

M

mAdD INDIAN

Diamond Member
Remember that dent I put in the Maxima a few months ago? Well we finally got around to getting it fixed. The dealer is quoting us $1200CDN to get it fixed...this was a dent I put in while reversing out of a parking space and hit a high curb n my blind spot...oh man I feel so freaking guilty and bad. My parents are footng the bill..when clearly i should be doing so. OH man i better get my dad a 350Z when im older!

also we went to get our 240sx a new battery, engine flush, and synthetic oil. Turns out the gasket is leaking between the engine and the oil pan. Atleast thats what the mechanic at Costco said. He noticed this while they were doing hte engine flush...apparently they blow air thru the engine and noticed it was leaking thru there. They stopped the flush immediatly.

Now hte thing is that I never noticed any oil leaks. Is this a serious expensive repair or is it something I can do myself? Its the gasket between the engine and the oil pan.
 
well, if it leaks too much all the oil will leak out and the engine will seize.....a gasket for an oil pan shouldnt be too expensive.
 
oil pan gasket's a pretty easy repair..drain all the oil and remove all the bolts tehn replace the gasket...
 


<< Remember that dent I put in the Maxima a few months ago? Well we finally got around to getting it fixed. The dealer is quoting us $1200CDN to get it fixed...this was a dent I put in while reversing out of a parking space and hit a high curb n my blind spot...oh man I feel so freaking guilty and bad. My parents are footng the bill..when clearly i should be doing so. OH man i better get my dad a 350Z when im older!

also we went to get our 240sx a new battery, engine flush, and synthetic oil. Turns out the gasket is leaking between the engine and the oil pan. Atleast thats what the mechanic at Costco said. He noticed this while they were doing hte engine flush...apparently they blow air thru the engine and noticed it was leaking thru there. They stopped the flush immediatly.

Now hte thing is that I never noticed any oil leaks. Is this a serious expensive repair or is it something I can do myself? Its the gasket between the engine and the oil pan. >>



A oil sump gasket won't set you back much, but good luck putting it it. In most cars you'll need to take the engine out to do it. Although, in my car I can simply jack up the engine from underneath, remove the sump, replace the gasket and sump, and voila! 🙂
 
WTF are they doing blowing air through an engine? (God, the procedures these auto repair/oil change chains come up with to make a buck!)

When you change the oil and the filter, you are flushing the engine. There is not supposed to be enormous positive pressure inside the crankcase. If there is, it is vented via the PCV valve, which does not function properly if the engine is not running. In my opinion, this reckless procedure caused the gasket to blow or leak. If you're lucky, there will be no permanent damage to the gasket, and it will not continue to leak. I wouldn't count on it, however.

At any rate, this is not an expensive repair. You could probably do it yourself. It?s kind of cool, because you will get to see inside the engine. You should definitely use a torque wrench. All the bolts need to be tightened evenly, and not overly so, or the gasket is likely to start leaking again in short order.

Just hit the dealership, buy the gasket (when in doubt, always buy the genuine OEM part), and ask them to give you the proper torque spec for the oil pan bolts.

(Just edited for clarity.)
 
Hey, if you get your dad one of those new 350z's he's gonna say "Wanna go race?, we wont tell your mother..."

LOL
LaSt
 


<< Hey, if you get your dad one of those new 350z's he's gonna say "Wanna go race?, we wont tell your mother..."

LOL
LaSt >>



Hehe...I just have to tell him 'Dad, a Taurus just passed us! You not going to let a Ford get ahead of us are you??' THen he floors it! Hehe..no he drives fast...loves to drive fast actually..

anyway I've done the engine flush before on our old Corolla and it did wonders to the engine. I assumed this was a popular maintenance routine done on many cars?? The reason I told them to do it is because I wanted to put in synthetic oil in the engine (engine currently has ergular oil...turns out that u don't need to do an engine flush)

anyway so its not a big deal right? I can't seem to find any oil leakage myself..but to be on the safe side I will attempt the change the gasket. Its a 240SX and the car is RWD, so I *assume* it would be easier than removing the whole engine.

Thanks again for the reply...

on a similar note...I'm a freaking retard..i can't belive I could hit the curb while reverse parking. Kids, this is what happens when you study Algebra for 10-hours straight (had an exam the following day). Not that I'm trying to justify my mistake..it WAS my fault...and now I feel really bad about it.
 
No, you don't need a flush for synthetic. Synthetic is formulated to be 100% compatible with the small amount of regular oil left after draining the engine.

You might not need to change the gasket, but definitely watch for a leak.

You wouldn't need to pull the engine in any car to change this gasket. If you don't already have a piar, get some ramps (or jackstands) and lift the front of the car. The oil pan is attached to the bottom of the engine by 10-20 little bolts spaced evenly, about 2 inches apart. The gasket in question seals the pan to the engine.

If you're going to change the gasket, I'll say it again, use a torque wrench, and tighten the bolts on alternating sides, kind of like this:

1--9--5-11
|.............|
7...........3
|.............|
12.........6
|.............|
4-10-2--8

That's not precise by any means, but this should give you the idea of what I mean. Don't just go in a circle.

Good luck now!

(Edited my ASCII ?art?)
 
Garfang: Thanks a lot for your detailed help/instructions. I really appreciate it. I will do this once the weather gets warmer.
 


<< No, you don't need a flush for synthetic. Synthetic is formulated to be 100% compatible with the small amount of regular oil left after draining the engine.

You might not need to change the gasket, but definitely watch for a leak.

You wouldn't need to pull the engine in any car to change this gasket. If you don't already have a piar, get some ramps (or jackstands) and lift the front of the car. The oil pan is attached to the bottom of the engine by 10-20 little bolts spaced evenly, about 2 inches apart. The gasket in question seals the pan to the engine.

q]

Garfang

I know in my mates car ('86 Falcon) (Australian car) we had to slide the bolts out the engine mount and Jack up the engine to get at all the bolts for the sump. (I presume sump and oil pan are the same things...) There was no way we could have undone all the bolts without jacking up the engine...
 
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