I replaced the oil pan gasket last summer and have always had a bit of weeping coming from it ever since. Almost all toward the back of the pan area. I was changing the oil today and decided to check the torque on all the bolts, and lo and behold, they all took a good 1/4 to 1/2 turn before they reached spec. All of them.

Last summer, the torque wrench I used was a new Tekton. Since then I've upgraded all of them to Hazets. Could their looseness be explained by the more accurate torque wrench being used on them now? Or is it common for them to back off? They were all pretty uniformly under-torqued, which leads me to blame the Tekton wrench more than assume they all backed off.

So, they're all torqued up now, but is the gasket toast now that it's already been leaky? Do I need to replace it again?

 

Oil on the threads lowering friction, increasing torque they can take?

 

This is pretty common in my experience and a retorque is typical. Not just in Rover oil pans but other vehicles as well, The heat cycling, the gasket crushing, oil deposits on the threads, etc. I redid the rear main seal on my 03 in 2019 and I (unknowingly) used the lousy smaller cruciform seals, which started leaking soon after. I checked my oil pan bolts and was able to retorque most of them and got my hopes up, but that had no effect and the rear main still leaks. I just retorqued the oil pan bolts in a friend's Camry a few weeks ago. They were probably still factory-tightened but all were loose.

 

That’s been my experience as well, also not just LR’s.

 

Is Loctite on them a good idea?

 

I wouldn't. It makes tightening them that much more of a problem. I've never dealt with engines that have a synthetic oil pan gasket like these trucks but as that thing heat cycles and deforms, re-tourqing seems like a better plan.

 

Maybe I’ll just make a torque check part of an oil change service.

 

Probably excessive, I would think every 10-15k, but it certainly can't hurt to keep an eye on them and that seems like the logical time. I'll bet over half the people on this forum could stand to have their oil pan bolts retorqued if they haven't checked them lately. Many years ago when I owned my first timing belt engine I had the local indy do the job because I didn't want to learn on an expensive engine. I had recently developed an oil leak and asked him to change the front crank seal as well since he was going to be in there doing the belt. I got the car back and there was no mention of the crank seal on the RO. I called to "complain" that he hadn't done what I had asked and he replied, good news, your oil pan bolts were loose so I tightened them up and leak solved. No charge.

 

I re-torqued many bolts over time ... exhaust manifold, y-pipe, oil pan, cross member .... some were only hand tight, lol. Always a good idea to check that from time to time.

 

After the first re-torque you *should* be ok. What material pan gasket did you use? Rubber or cork?

I historically tighten them down a bit more than I feel like I have to and as they settle in they stay sealed pretty well.