1 or 2 oil pan gaskets

[tkswan]

2002 LS V8 165 miles. I have a pan gasket leak. One shop told me thereare two gaskets. Upper and lower. If the upper is leaking its going to cost around $1500. Someone educate me on this please.

[joegr]

Originally Posted by tkswan

2002 LS V8 165 miles. I have a pan gasket leak. One shop told me thereare two gaskets. Upper and lower. If the upper is leaking its going to cost around $1500. Someone educate me on this please.

There's only one oil pan gasket, and it's very easy to change.
If there's a block gasket somewhere above that, I don't know. Anyway, why don't you change the pan gasket and see if that solves it? If you have a socket wrench and a set of ramps, you can do it yourself in less than an hour.

I think that the V6 does have an upper and lower pan gasket, unlike the V8.

[shorod]

The V6 has a lower cylinder block which contains the lower main and thrust bearings for the crankshaft rather than the more typical bearing caps. This lower cylinder block could be mistaken for a second oil pan and gasket.

-Rod

[tkswan]

That's what I thought but wanted to hear from the experts. I had it raised and the wet oil isn't high enough up to say its something other than the oil pan gasket.

Thanks guys.

[joegr]

Originally Posted by tkswan

That's what I thought but wanted to hear from the experts. I had it raised and the wet oil isn't high enough up to say its something other than the oil pan gasket.

Thanks guys.

Be warned: The AC compressors sometimes leak oil (both of my LSes had this problem eventually). Compressor oil has a slight greenish tint to it, but can be mistaken for engine oil. The oil from the compressor will coat the compressor and the oil pan. On the hand, if your oil pan is leaking, the AC compressor should be dry.

[shorod]

Interesting. My wife's A/C compressor started leaking oil even though the A/C continued to work perfectly fine. I didn't realize that was pretty common on these. Of course shortly after she bought the car (used) the oil pan started leaking too. Her 2002 was the V6. It was still under warranty so the dealer got to deal with it. Even though there was oil on a few of the oil pan bolts and on top of the oil pan lip, the dealer claimed the leak was due to a loose drain plug. And of course it continued to leak after we got it back. I put dye in the crankcase and took photos of the glowing oil well above the drain pan. The dealer finally conceded and changed the oil pan gasket, which isn't a simple task on the V6. No more leak. The A/C compressor leak started several years after the pan gasket was replaced.

-Rod

[tkswan]

pretty sure its the oil pan gasket. we had it up in the air where we could see it clearly. 3 different shops came up with the same, additionally, the oil level on the dipstick goes down. My buddy has the 2000 ls v8 and he had the exact same problem with the compressor leaking.

[joegr]

Originally Posted by tkswan

pretty sure its the oil pan gasket. we had it up in the air where we could see it clearly. 3 different shops came up with the same, additionally, the oil level on the dipstick goes down. My buddy has the 2000 ls v8 and he had the exact same problem with the compressor leaking.

That's good. The oil pan gasket is much much less expensive than an AC compressor.

[tkswan]

Well job complete. Not a good job... ive done better work. Broke a bolt and its still leaking. The first gasket was defective and i had to wait 4 hours to get another one. I used silicone gasket in addition to the new one. Hopefully the leak wil seal up when it cures. It reads 24 hour cure time. Gotta have thebroken bolt drilled out and replaced. If it still leaks after that im taking it in. This is my first failure working on this car.

[joegr]

If it's leaking now, it's not going to seal. You'd have to put the gasket stuff on and let it cure before you added any oil.

BTW, there is a particular sequence to tightening the bolts, and too tight is as bad as too loose. If you clean the surfaces good, and tighten correctly, you don't need any sealant to keep it from leaking.

http://deneau.info/ls/s6x~us~en~file...tm~gen~ref.htm