oil pan leak after waterpump change?

[bluebronco69]

hey all,
helping my dad on his 72 with 302.

he changed out the water pump a couple weeks ago, and after that, the oil pan started leaking really bad (driver side front corner of the pan where it makes the corner and heads towards the back of the engine.)

he changed the oil pan gasket with the nice one piece felpro unit, still leaking just as bad...
so is the waterpump/timing cover not tight, and is causing this?

 

[needabronco]

Tighten the bolts.

 

[DirtDonk]

So you changed the whole pan gasket all by itself after the pump change and it was all bolted back together?
Did you re-tighten all four of the front bolts (two different sized bolts, and some always seem to be hard to see) in the corners under the front cover?

Could the gasket be the incorrect one for your engine? Is it an original engine, or a swapped-in one from another year? Seems like there were some minor differences over there on the driver's side due to some having a dipstick tube in the block and others in the pan?
I can't remember the details, and did not check to see if they all use the same pan gasket or not. But it's one thing to make sure of.

Paul

 

[bluebronco69]

yes, the pan gasket was changed about 1 week after the water pump to try and correct the leak, we though the gasket just failed. he had tried tightening the pan bolts at that corner, with no success.

the 4 front bolts you are talking about are for the pan right? i know which ones you are talking about. i will ask him, im not there now.

i think its the right gasket. we used OS-13260T

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes, the front four pan bolts are all threaded up into the front aluminum timing cover, rather than the engine block itself.
They're always finicky, but in a hard to see sort of way. Rather than an actual leak-causing way. But you never know.

Not only are they literally hard to see to take off because of all the years of road gunk on them (many a timing cover has broken due to unseen bolts not removed), but they really are in awkward to see positions when the engine is in certain chassis designs. Such as EB's for instance.

Anyway, whether low on the list, or high, they're at least something initially worth checking out.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[bluebronco69]

asked about those bolts sounds like they are good. there is a seam there he said, which he put a bit of extra RTV over.
maybe the timing cover seal is what let go, and it looked like the pan gasket?

 

[DirtDonk]

Could be any of the above at this point. That oil will travel all over the place in those areas, so you really need to see the source to know for sure. It can look like the pan rail, but be coming from the seal or seam like you said.
But then, it can also be coming from the pan gasket too! It seems it just never ends!

Sorry it's also leaking really bad in your case. But then, at least it forces you to fix it instead of just letting it go like a very small leak would likely have done.

Hope it's a simple fix. Let us know what he finds.

Paul

 

[Rustytruck]

Make sure the right length bolts got in there. The other issues would be the front oil seal and possibly the oil pump sending unit and its extension tube. that tube is easy to crack if your not careful. The upper part of the pan is higher than the oil level inside the pan. I would also check anything to do with power steering since you have to move that stuff to get the water pump out.

 

[bluebronco69]

Turns out it was the pipe for the oil pressure sending unit the while time...

 

[DirtDonk]

Dang. That was a very common issue I haven't seen written about in awhile.
Did yours crack and you had to get a new one? If you have the choice, choose steel over aluminum for that part.

Thanks for the update!

Paul