oil pan removal

cracked oil pan needs replacing- ran into problems getting old one out- exhaust loops over the bottom of the pan and seems to prevent dropping pan- have loosened exhaust but still seems ot hang up- Any suggestions?
thanks
Andy

Engine has to be lifted per factory manual.

I had the same problem. Why Detroit put the pipe up between the tranny and the engine is a msytery to me. Since the pipe already comes out under the car. They should have ran it all the way under the tranny. And let it connect with the other pipes on the back side of the Transmission. Now inorder to remove that cross over pipe. You either have to remove the whole drivetrain. Or remove the tranny. Those designers who did that designing, neeed to be took behind the barn and bull whipped.

I've had my 97 Aurora for two years now (not the autobahn). Per this board, I switched to Mobil 1 oil and have been very happy with the switch. However, one thing I did not know was that when switching to synthetic oil from conventional, the amount of sludge from the first oil change can really foul up an oil filter fast - which creates its own problems. As a result, I believe this created a slow oil leak in either the oil pressure relief valve, or as I first believed, the oil pan gasket.

Anyway, I called around to see how much it would be to have the gasket replaced. I was told it would cost somewhere between $1000 and $1300 to replace the gasket, due to the hours to remove the pan. Initially I thought I might try until a more thorough review of the manuals revealed the complexity. As a DIY, I have replaced the radiator, front rotors/pads, rear shocks, and battery, but no way would I attempt this one.

As I have continued to monitor the leak (for nearly two years now), I am not convinced it is the gasket anyway. Given that it only uses 2+ quarts between changes, I will not worry about it any longer.

Please post on what you did to finally fix your problem.

Thanks Brian.

Thanks for the replies- actually bought the car from insurance company- flawless loaded 97 Autobahn that had under carriage damage- no oil or trannie fluids and flat front tires so hard to guage the damage but at reasonable price worth the risk I felt- upon getting it in the air found the cradle bad which I expected along with the oil pan having big whole- also the outer pan on trannie cracked bad- dilema was whether engine was damaged or not and how to determine that without going into multi-pulls along with dealing with cradle change and possible engine change-
Am sure our method will draw some laughs and criticism but so far has worked-
We cut out one side of the cradle and then cut the crossover pipe - hard to do knowing it was good and would cost $150 to replace but considering the time to lift engine and separate the trannie became judgement call, really ridiculous design- anyway with new pan in hand and old one removed we found that oil manifold that fits between block and pan was also damaged- we installed new pan and a lot of Permatex to check engine- quite loud with front exhast compromised but engine sounded excellent so will keep fingers crossed- have ordered new oil manifold and lifted engine enough to replace trannie cover- hopefully it will also be good-
then off to frame shop to first straighten remaining cradle to point we can install new cradle - sandwiched somewhere in there we will also replace exhaust crossover- Any critique or ideas on what else I should be looking at or concerned with will be greatly appreciated

Re-seal estimates are always high because they assume removing engine to seal manifold and pan, then reinstall.