Pulling oil pan

[Motodox]

Hey guys I'm about to pull my tranny to have it rebuilt by a local trans shop but also going to attack some other problems while it's out. I have a oil leak that seems to be gettin worse by the day. I'm thinking rear main seems it drips from the bottom of oil pan and torque converter plate. I'm planning to replace the rear main seal the valve covers and the oil pan gaskets.

 

My question is, can I drop the oil pan and remove without picking the motor up? Is there enough clearance to slide the pan out and safetly reinstall?

 

 

Thanks for your time everyone and if you have any other advice I'd love to hear it before attacking this big job.

 

Truck has 200k and runs strong so not messing with the internals of the motor I'm sure others can agree I can still get a lot of life out of this 5.3

[gmtech4]

You might as well pull both at once , put it on an engine stand and do it right ...

 

You will have Z E R O fun doing this repair in the truck ,,,,

 

Listen to the old tech ... Not that old really but listen anyways ... I'm a big fan of not doing difficult jobs when there are options to make it easier ..

 

You can then reseal other stuff while your at it ? The sense of accomplishment will be HUGE for you when shes barkin again !!!!

[oldscsc]

+1 on resealing out of the pickup.

 

You can do the front main (be aware that you will need to acquire a new balancer pulley bolt), rear main, oil pan, and valve cover gaskets. They're all pretty simple jobs. Just have a razor blade, some steel wool, Simple Green, and a toothbrush on hand for cleaning mating surfaces.

 

Might as well also throw both knock sensors, the knock sensor sub-harness, and intake manifold gaskets on it while it's out. That's another simple job.

 

Should be good as new (sealing-wise) after the fact!

[Motodox]

Great info guys I really appreciate it. I got the tranny out yesterday and pulled the intake to make it easier to get that top bell housing bolt and now feeling a little overwhelmed. Wasn't expecting to do much with the motor because it ran strong just fix some leaks. But the intake on the heads is disgusting!! I've never seen anything so bad. It almost like oil was getting in them. But the truck doesn't smoke. Valve seals maybe. Now I don't know what to do. Have the heads redone or have the whole motor rehauled. I'll send some pics to see what you guys think of these heads. I feel with 200k miles this motor wasn't too well taken care of.

 

I do have a question. If I pull this motor which I'm already close tranny is pulled and exhaust and intake is off. Can I just pull the compressor off And leave it hooked up so I don't need to recharge it and all that. Or just will it be easier to just disconnect the lines and refil it later

 

 

Also what do you mean by throw the knock sensors ?

[oldscsc]

A) The oily intake passages are probably caused by vapors induced into the intake by the PCV system. It does a good job of making these engines look disgusting real quick. I pulled the intake off of a 335k mile 4.8 a few months ago and saw what you're seeing with your engine. You can spray some internal engine cleaner directly on the carbon deposits to soften them, then drive the snot out of the pickup once it's back together. You can also reassemble the engine as is...up to you.

 

B) You are correct about the AC compressor. Just strap it to something on the engine bay and leave it hooked up. Simply reassemble when the engine is back in the pickup.

 

C) By "throw both knock sensors at it", I meant that I recommend replacing both the knock sensors that are under the intake manifold. The sensors, especially the rear sensor, are known to take on water and corrode. You can fix this by replacing both sensors and building a dam around the sensor cover to deter water from entering. Considering the heat cycles the knock sensor wiring is exposed to, I also replace both knock sensor connectors (normally included with the purchase of sensors) and the knock sensor sub-harness (the wiring the knock sensors plug into on one end; plugs into the main engine harness on the other. Purchased separately).

 

Sounds like a lot of work, but it's pretty simple stuff if you've got the time. Check out RockAuto for parts, as you'll save a lot of time, money, and hassle as opposed to going to a brick and mortar store. Post back if you have any questions!

[Motodox]

Wow thank you for helping me buddy. I wonder if I can just stuff rags down in the intake valleys clean the motor best I can replace the valve cover gaskets and oil pan gaskets and new intake gaskets if I'd be ok. The egr was clogged with tons of sludge and carbon build up too.

 

Also how can I clean the fuel rail and injectors, those looked nasty too.

[Motodox]

I don't know I what direction to go with this, I'm stressing out like you wouldn't believe.

 

I have another question, on the drivers side block just above the oil filter there is a 2 bolt fladged block that has a hole on the top side . What is this? Is there supposed to be a hose going to it? It's directly about the oil filter and bolted to the block. It's oily everywhere so I can't figure out where the oil comes from.

[txab]

That's for an optional oil cooler

[oldscsc]

No need to stress. You don't have to do the extra work, it's simply a preventative measure.

 

For example, if your rear main seal starts leaking oil, you'll get to pull the engine again to replace it. I don't like redoing work so I resealed / replaced everything I recommended when I pulled my engine.

 

While you have the intake off, visually examine the knock sensors to confirm they aren't corroded. Even if you don't replace them, take a quick peek to see what they look like.

[Motodox]

You guys are super helpful can't thank you enough. I was wondering if I should look at the knock sensors even if I don't plan to change. I will defiantly check them at least now. I assume those big round covers just pop up?

 

And I couldnt find exactly where this oil leak was coming from, I thought rear main. But with the tranny out I can see around it and honestly doesn't look like it's really leaking. I bought a new seal to do it anyway. Just pull the flywheel I assume and is the seal pressed in. So I'll need to press back in? Around the valve covers and oil pan are pretty nasty too so I'm thinking that is where the leak was coming from.

 

And if that's a optional oil cooler is ther just a blank whole on top? I can defiantly feel a hole on top just not sure if it's completely through, there is nasty oil and crud all on the back of motor. Want to make sure I'm not losing oil from that 2 bolt flange peice there. I'm not sure if mine has a oil cooler. There's no line running to the block by the oil filter were talking about.

 

I purchased intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gaskets and rear main seal today also got some new injector o rings. This week I'm attempting to clean everything the best I can while the granny's getting rebuilt

[oldscsc]

A) Yes, the knock sensor plugs will just lift up. They'll probably be stubborn, but should come up easily enough after you break their deal by running a screwdriver or similar tool around the sealing surface. It helps to tape the end of the tool so as to not mar the plug surface. If the sensors look decent, you can go back together with the sensor covers. Seal the plug's mating surface with Permatex Ultra Gray. With the same Permatex, create a dam around both plugs to deter water from getting to the sensors. Make sure to torque the manifold bolts in the order the service manual recommends once you're going back together with it.

 

B) To access the rear main seal, you will need to unbolt the rear engine cover. The seal (it's more of a gasket really) will lie underneath the cover. It's pretty simple to replace. As with any mating surface, make sure both surfaces (machined portion of the block and the cover) are squeaky clean to ensure a solid seal. I use steel wool to clean the mating surfaces of any debris, then wipe them down with a clean shop rag sprayed with brake cleaner. After the mating surface is dry, you can reassemble. Take care to torque the cover's bolts in a star pattern. Upon reassembly, you'll need to apply blue Loctite to the flywheel bolts. As with everhtjing, make sure you torque the fasteners to the recommended spec.

 

C) If you have the optional oil cooler, the pickup will have oil cooler lines running to the front of the pickup. If you don't have the cooler option, you'll have a blockoff plate held in by two bolts. This is another place for oil to leak. To replace the gasket, simply remove the bolts securing the blockoff plate to the block, then swap the gaskets out on the back side of the plate.

[Motodox]

Great great info. Exactly what I need. I'll make sure to do all of this .

 

With building a damn with the permatex. Are you taking about doing that under the dust covers ? Then putting some on the covers themselves to seal the covers.

 

And does anyone have a good web site to pull torq specs. Common motor feel there is somewhere to get these.

[oldscsc]

For the plugs, I use a little Permatex around the plug's sealing surface. Can't hurt. The dam is to be built on the intake manifold valley plate itself. In other words, make a ring of Permatex about an inch away from the knock sensor plugs.

 

I use AllData for finding torque specs, but I'm sure they're on the open web (non-paid sites). I don't remember the specs of the top of my head.

[Motodox]

Ok I gotcha, I'll make sure to do that. Today after work I got the fly wheel off and the front axle dropped to pull the oil pan. About ready to do some hard core cleaning ( not looking forward to it) .

 

I did see that my truck does not have a oil cooler and that is simply just a block plate. What's weird is that it has a hole on top just doesn't go completely through. I did get a new gasket for it today as well.

 

Today I also got all the gaskets I should need to replace everything that came apart and was leaking prior. Now that the flywheel is off I can see the rear main was definitely leaking.

 

I feel like the truck wasn't leaking as bad until I changed the oil to mobile 1 which is synthetic. I'm wondering and questioning if I should continue to use it after I get it back together. With the new gaskets and all. Is it ok to switch from running synthetic back to conventional. I probably only put 500 miles on it with mobile 1.

[Motodox]

Still have gotten to check the knock sensors yet but will this week, I also picked up a new oil sending unit. Figured might As well do it while I'm here. Only 20$