oil pan gasket change on 96 Civic CX hatch

[mitka]

Hello,

I had a leaky oil pan gasket on 96 Honda Civic CX Hatch, A/T. Dealer wanted $280 for the job. I looked up in Honda factory repair manual - seemed like a simple job, decided to do it myself.

I unbolted the oil pan. Got it unstuck and now I am in a little bit of trouble as I have not anticipated that exhaust pipe will be so much in the way and would not allow to remove the pan. Also the stupid transmission stiffener is hanging between pan and the pipe and I cannot wiggle it out as well.

I spent like 2 hours trying to wiggle it out - no go, the pipe is in the way. The exhaust pipe, the manifold and the bolts holding them are all so rusted - no chance I can take them apart w/o breaking.
(also the pipe seems to stuck to manifold for good).

Two questions:

1) There is no way I can take out oil pan w/o messing with the pipe? Any solutions?
2) The oil pan is held by combination of bolts and nuts, total 18. I did not make a record of where are the
nuts and where are the bolts. Could someone post the map (or photo) of their oil pan, so I can figure
the correct placement of bolts and nuts (my problem is that 3 nuts came off together with the sticks,
so I lost track of where they were originally).

Many thanks for advice on this issue!

 

[sbresani]

damn that sucks man... i had the same problem with the oil pan gasket and replaced it myself... i had to remove the downpipe and the tranny stiffener... i wasnt anticipating to be that much work just to get to the bolts... i dont think there is a way of reaching all the bolts without removing the exhaust and the tranny plate, because removing the oil pan is just 50% of the job, then u have to seal it properly and clean it... good luck bro

 

[Szady]

The studs and nuts for the oil pan are pretty much layed out on the block. You can tell which hole is a nut, and which hole is a stud.

 

[Raabe]

i was just thinking about knocking ths out myself...


maybe not

 

[mitka]

Progress report

Progress report:

Thanks for response guys! Not wanting to risk wrecking the manifold by trying to unbolt the pipe, I cut it out with pipe cutter, replaced the oil pan seal and will take the car tomorrow to Merlin to replace the pipe.

Thanks!

 

[FartCanMan]

I'm in the process of installing headers. I just took my manifold off.

I bought an oil pan gasket because every time I do an oil change I notice that my entire oil pan is moist around the outside (thinking it's the pan gasket).

My question is; what and where is the tranny stiffener? Do the bolts to the stiffener need to be torqued correctly?

Also, I planned on just scraping the block and pan clean then applying the gasket sealant all the way around on the block and pan...good idea?

 

[cvcrcr99]

Grave digger!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This thread is about a year and a half old.

No idea if the "tranny stiffener" bolts need to be torqued down a specific amount or not.

If you decide to not use a gasket, I would recommend using Honda-bond as the sealant. I wouldn't suggest anything else.

 

[FartCanMan]

it's better to be a grave digger than post a new thread on the same s**t right?

i have a gasket. and i actually just realized i only need to use the sealant at 4 points on the gasket.

my main question is what the hell is a tranny stiffener, where is it, and is it hard to take off?

 

[RonJ]

my main question is what the hell is a tranny stiffener, where is it, and is it hard to take off?

Note: The oil pan nuts and bolts are torqued to 8.7 ft-lbs.

The diagrams below should be helpful. I can't remember whether the shift rod also needs to be dropped, but I included a diagram anyway.

 

[FartCanMan]

noice. thanks man.

i went to change the gasket today and realized how simple a concept the stiffener was. im going to start her up tomorrow