Fixing oil pan gasket oil leak Mazda tribute

[@nonamegiven5744]

Neighbor down street selling 06 tribute for $1k with 122k miles and i noticed oil leakage. Now i know what to do...think im gonna buy it !

[@Albertthegreat2010]

Did you get it? Did you replace the gasket? How hard was it? Thinking about doing this job myself.

[@RbNetEngr]

So, you did not put any LocTite on the oil pan bolts before you reinstalled them? With no washers, and such a small amount of torque on the bolts, I would think that LocTite would help to keep the bolts from working loose over time.

[@Albertthegreat2010]

Just an FYI... Your oil pan is the old style. There is an updated version. Your gasket only costs about $12 at Rockauto.

[@siphilipe]

And when the car is from a north like mine, prepare a torch before wrenches.

[@timvillasana7583]

Gonna do this for my 2005 Ford Escape - this looks like the same engine. I can smell the burning oil inside the vehicle because its leaking on the exhaust pipe. I hope this fixes it. Good video.

[@s33therfan]

Thank you for watching

[@MicKeyMooZiK]

Excellent and very thorough video. Great job. I was quoted stupid money for a mechanic to do this. Especially like the tip on curing the RTV.

[@s33therfan]

Thank you very much for the great feedback and thanks for watching.

[@Chitenza]

Hi SSeether, Just going thru your old videos to learn more about this car and car repair in general. Your new videos use Fel-Pro gaskets rather than the man-made RTV around the oil pan. Just wondering which you actually prefer or think is better. Does the RTV last longer in your experience? Cheers

[@s33therfan]

Rtv is very durable and will usually outlast any gasket. However a good gasket like fel pro will last a long time. The benefit to a gasket is how they are simple and quick to replace. Most of the time if a gasket is reasonably priced I will go that route. Another important thing I would note is that today a lot of cars do not offer an oil pan gasket. So then you have no choice but to use rtv. An example would be the mazda, escape 2.3l . I have come across a lot of gm vehicles that offer no oil pan gaskets. Anyways great question and thank you for watching.

[@THHill-lw3ob]

This was the problem with my B 4000 ,witch I drive daily as really it a in Pound car a 1995 fact ,as if it tye rear main seal ,it wouldn't leak but it was $300.00 ,Guss ,from West Dallas in Singleton the Dealership ,and don't don't give my title ,many times but it's in my name now people what should happen as Cynthia King go a text it was in the shop but Willie C ,Milton my friend was part also .

[@s33therfan]

thank you for watching

[@carlosgj1308]

Hi if you buy a new gasket do you still have to put ultra black or no more?

[@s33therfan]

If you can get a good metal gasket with the silicone seal then you should only have to rtv the ends . Where the front cover meets the oil pan and where the oil pan meets up with the rear seal etc. I suppose the oil pan gasket could make it slightly less messy . Great question and thank you for watching.

[@s33therfan]

Disregard my statement about the front cover and rear seal . I am getting this confused with a different vehicle . With the gasket you will not need to use any rtv. Just purchase a good oil pan gasket. Thanks again

[@sergeilutzak2479]

There is a 'rubber' gasket available. Check Rock Auto out. You will still need two small dabs of RTV at the small rectangular rubber gasket spots. Tighten the pan bolts to 18 ft lbs, and the bolts to the bell housing at 35 ft lbs. The tightening sequence is, first the bell housing bolts, then the pan bolts in a crosscross manner starting in the centre and working out to the ends. Tighten the end bolts last...both ends. This is from the Ford Workshop Manual.

[@scottcampbell978]

What about that rubber flap???

[@jthahn]

Nice job. I need to replace the oil pan gasket in my 2001 Ford Escape. How was taking off your exhaust bolts? Any tips? Looks like yours are brand new and have already been taken off and replaced. I imagine mine are rusted solid. I might just grind them off and replace them.

[@s33therfan]

Yes mine were not that bad to take loose , however I am down south. I know I have got ahold of some that came from up north and they had to be cut off. But anyways I don't know your situation but definitely take and soak them with spray lubricant of some sort. Also a good impact will make things easier. I know i'd done this oil pan gasket not long after replacing the entire exhaust . My front cats had failed and made for a big job. Anyways best of luck on your project and thank you for the feedback and for watching.

[@timvillasana7583]

The last two exhaust bolts closest to the rear of the vehicle were a pain in the ass. The angle of those bolts were the issue - I couldn't get a breaker bar in there. After using penetrating solvent didn't work, I just had to take my ratchet and small sledge hammer to free them.

[@s33therfan]

@@timvillasana7583 yes , I made a video on replacing this exhaust and a few were rediculous on the exhaust manifold . Luckily I only had broken manifold bolts on the front and not near the firewall. Thanks for the feedback .

[@DannyPacheco-j6f]

Can't you use purple power to clean bolts?

[@s33therfan]

I usually use gasoline because purple cleaner causes rust . If you use it ypu will have to oil them with clean oil. Hope this helps and thanks for watching .

[@nicky9845]

How many hours did it take you to get the job done?

[@s33therfan]

I spent a couple of hours on the removal and cleaning but let the rtv cure for at least 24 hours before tightening or filling with oil. Thanks for watching

[@michaelmorris6575]

Great video! Thanks

[@s33therfan]

Thank you for the feedback and thanks for watching.

[@bdm408]

Great video! I saw somewhere online that they say to torque to 18 lb-ft which is more than what u recommend 70-80 lb-in... which one should I follow for my 2002 ford escape v6 4x4? Thanx in advance!

[@s33therfan]

The specs call for like 14 to 19 ft lb but with oil pan and valve cover etc I never go more than 80 to 106 inch lb . In my experience snapping small bolts has always been a greater threat than anything else. Its up to you but anytime Im dealing with small bolts as a rule of thumb stay on the side of caution . Great question . Thank you for watching.

[@bdm408]

@@s33therfan thanx for the reply! What u said makes total sense. Now, I ran into a couple issues and wanted to ask for ur expertise. First, one of the bolt holes got stripped and so I must re-thread the hole or else oil pain will leak ☹ but I hadn't noticed this until applying rtv and semi reinstalling the oil pan. So I will need to remove it to re-thread the hole... so my question is if the new gasket reusable? Can I clean off the rtv gasket maker without damaging the new gasket? I did use ur method and applied rtv all over a new fel-pro gasket. And my last question is that I noticed that the 2 side bolts going into the transmission weren't well aligned, so I wonder if torquing down the other bolts will allow for those 2 side trannny bolts to align? I hope my questions make sense and again thank u for taking the time to reply!

[@s33therfan]

If I had the pan sealed and snugged already id just put the stripped bolt in with some high strength loc tite. The other bolts should be plenty to hold it . Now thats if I couldnt get it threaded without removing it. These small bolts are notorious for either breaking off or having stripped threads . I had to redo numerous valve cover threads once and it was very irritating . Seems like i had a similar problem with the alignment on the tran and had to snug the ones close to it a little more to get them into alignment. Its definitley whatever you are comfortable with and if it gives you more peace if mind removing shouldnt be too bad just cleaning off a little rtv and it will be fine. Great job doing this yourself and thank you again.

[@bdm408]

s33therfan just wanted to update u that I followed ur advice and so far no leaks in my oil pan 👏 👏 so thank u very much for ur help and expertise... stay blessed dude 👊

[@sergeilutzak2479]

Ford Workshop Manual has it as 18 ft lbs. The four bolts to the bell housing are at 35 ft lbs. The tightening sequence is as in this video...you crisscross starting in the middle and do the end ones last. I'm not sure why that flat gasket is used, as there is a 'rubber' gasket available that fits into the groove around the perimeter. Only two small dabs of RTV are then required. Always follow the curing advice on the RTV package.

[@khaldounj]

Is it v6 engine?

[@s33therfan]

This is the 2.3l 4 cylinder. Thanks for watching.

[@khaldounj]

@@s33therfan thank you for answering, mine has V6 under the hood. I'm not sure if I can take your video as a reference to fix my car, or these engines aren't that different, are they?

[@RbNetEngr]

@@s33therfanI know you did the repair, but this video is definitely changing the oil pan gasket on the 3.0L V6 engine, not the 2.3L I4 engine. I have the same engine in my 2003 Tribute. The 2.3L I4 only has a single exhaust header, on one side of the engine. The V6, being a "V", has one exhaust from the front side three cylinders, and another exhaust on the firewall side three cylinders. That's why the exhaust pipe you removed is a "Y" pipe, to connect to both front and firewall side exhausts and feed them to the main pipe and catalytic converter.