I am continuing to work on my front-cover, water pump (and now head gasket) job. Last night I removed the oil pan/sump. I have no clue how I managed to get it out but I did. However I had a question. In the RAVE and Alex_M's write-up it mentions removing 3 'nuts'. I never found any nuts visible and only removed bolts. Does anyone know where these should have been so I can double check that I didn't leave anything? I know I removed the 2 forward facing and the 4 rear facing at the bell housing and 2 that were recessed. Then I removed all the bolts along the sides, I assumed the 3 'nuts' were maybe mis-labelled since I removed 3 bolts at the very front of the sump.

Also, when refitting the gasket, should I use Black RTV and should it go between the gasket and the block, or between the gasket and the sump, or both?



Ignore the coolant drips, I'm 99% sure that dripped down while removing the sump.

 

I'm actually about to te-do this job today because I'm ~75% sure I forgot to loctite the cam gear bolt and the oil pump bolts. Don't forget to do that.

As for the three nuts, I believe you're referring to the three which thread onto the studs coming from the bottom of the front cover connecting it to your oil pan. If you had bolts instead of studs and nuts there, its possible that a previous owner removed or broke the studs and replaced them with bolts.

As for the RTV, many people have been having issues with RTV as of late with it coming off and jamming up the II l pickup, starving the engine of oil. If you can, I'd recommend blue hylomar instead. If you use RTV, do so sparingly. It will go on both the block side and pan side if the gasket.

 

Thanks for the blue hylomar tip. Knowing how I had to wiggle that cover out I'm kind of nervous about getting it back it without rubbing the sealant over everything.

I also grabbed a pic of the bottom of the front cover with the pan removed. No studs makes more sense now. I didn't see it clearly depicted in the RAVE so I was scratching my head.

 

Alex is being nice. The name of the person who basically ruined an engine with RTV on the pan gasket and the front cover gasket is... me. Hylomar is expensive but worth every penny. RTV ends up on the screen of your oil pickup tube, regardless of which color you use and regardless of how careful you are. But you have to, at least, put a sealant at the gaps between the engine and front cover, and the engine and bell housing. I proudly eliminated all oil leaks, and thereby starved the engine of oil. That's called ironic.

My studs came out, too, when the nuts stuck and they just threaded the studs out. I prefer bolts there (same bolts as go everywhere else on the oil pan) because it makes getting the pan in place without smudging your Hylomar easier. But the studs are there to help you line it up, so pick your poison.

 

Something just struck me. Would I still be able to remove the front-cover after re-installing the oil pan?

 

Nope.

 

So this Blue Hylomar, does it go by other names or do you have to purchase it online? I've been to 2 local auto parts stores and I get dumb looks every time I ask for it. They have 100 different flavors of RTV but nothing mentioning Hylomar.

 

I *think* the permated version is called Ultra Blue or something like that, but hopefully someone will come by and confirm.

 

I got some Permatex ultra blue and it worked more like a low grade RTV. Used it for the water pump. It wasn't somewhat translucent like the hylomar but the description did sound the same.

 

Another quick question. I've made some slow but steady progress. I didn't realize how hard it would be to scrape off the old front cover and water pump gaskets. I'm finally the point I can start putting the front cover back together.

What should I grease the front crankshaft seal with? Is petroleum jelly really the best stuff to prime the new oil pump with?