i took out all the bolts holding the oil pan to my car and now it's loose but won't come off because of the front suspension. i'm trying to take off the timing chain cover. does the oil pan have to be all the way off? are there bolts that you can't get to without taking the oil pan all the way off?

 

for the front cover I don't think you have to drop it the whole way, you should be able to get away with just dropping it a little bit, not sure though like I said before I'm working on an engine that is out of the car...

 

I asked the same question before in a previous thread, somebody mentioned using a jack to just slightly move the engine up high enough so the oil pan would come off. I never got around to doing it myself though.

 

thanks for the feedback

 

ok...i have changed the oil pan gasket on my car twice now....you have to put the car on jackstands, and get a crane to hold the motor up...then unbolt the motor mounts from the front crossmember, and disconnect the steering shaft....let the crossmember drop as far as it will go, you shouldnt have to take it all the way off....you just need to be able to get the oil pan low enough to get it out from under the oil pickup....you do not have to take the front cover off of the motor at all.....then make sure the edge of the pan is straight, and scrape all the old gasket off of it....run a new bead of gasket, and bolt it back up...not too tight tho, it doesnt require that much torque at all....

 

he was asking how to take off the front cover, not how to change the oil pan gasket

 

yeah i just had it done jack the motor a lil and drop the crossmember a lil not sure about removing sway bar

 

i already changed the timing chain and the only bolts from the oil pan that had to be removed were the front 4.

 

heh...my bad

 

thanks for the info anyway i'm going to have to take off the oil pan pretty soon probably next oil change. i want to replace the gasket and i just want to have a look inside of it. 220k miles there's bound to be something in there that aint supposed to be.