Is leaky oil pan gasket common on LS?

[shorod]

My wife recently (3 weeks ago) purchased a 2002 Lincoln LS V6 Sport with 36k miles on it. She loves the car (traded in a '99 Passat for it) but lately it has been leaving spots on the garage floor. I put it up on jackstands and it certainly appears that there is no oil higher than the oil pan gasket. I verified that the bolts were tight (spec is 18 lb-ft). The car is a Lincoln Certified car and we have the extended warranty.

Has anyone other than eL eS had oil pan gasket problems? Just curious if this is as common as the valve cover gaskets. Basically, I want to know if I need to take photos of what the car looks like now so I can make sure the dealer puts everything back together properly, or if the dealer has likely done a few of these.

-Rod

[CGGorman]

New to me...

[shorod]

Originally Posted by shorod

My wife recently (3 weeks ago) purchased a 2002 Lincoln LS V6 Sport with 36k miles on it. She loves the car (traded in a '99 Passat for it) but lately it has been leaving spots on the garage floor. I put it up on jackstands and it certainly appears that there is no oil higher than the oil pan gasket. I verified that the bolts were tight (spec is 18 lb-ft). The car is a Lincoln Certified car and we have the extended warranty.

Has anyone other than eL eS had oil pan gasket problems? Just curious if this is as common as the valve cover gaskets. Basically, I want to know if I need to take photos of what the car looks like now so I can make sure the dealer puts everything back together properly, or if the dealer has likely done a few of these.

-Rod

Follow-Up: Well, we finally got the dealer to fix the oil leak (we hope). After taking it in the first time, they sent us home that evening claiming the leak was caused by a loose drain plug. I had verified it was tight before taking it in (the same dealer had changed the oil last). Also, oil was all the way around the lip of the upper oil pan seam and dripping off wiring harnesses and the alternator bracket, ie: unless my wife drives high speeds in reverse around turns, oil leaking from a drain plug would not wick up and around the pan that far. They also put dye in the oil so we could tell where it was leaking from should it leak again.

So, frustrated, we took the car home. After a week, it was leaving spots on the garage floor again. Not surprising, the spots glowed. I got out my leak detection blacklight and digital camera, put the car on jackstands, and took photos of the glowing oil coming from all the same places (looms, brackets, and both sides of the engine oil pan). I printed added captions and references to the photos and printed them out.

My wife wanted me to teach her how to change a tire before she went on a trip, so we practiced on one of the rear wheels. Low and behold, most of the rubber boots on the suspension components of the rear were shredded. We finished changing tires, and I checked for looseness in the rear. I didn't find any in either side on the rear, but took photos of the dust boots anyway. The boots on both sides of the rear were alike. Just for the heck of it, I printed these photos out too and we took the car in for the oil leak repair and asked about the boots. They said they'd check and see what they could do. I mentioned that I didn't notice any looseness yet, but would appreciate them looking into it. We told them they could have the car for a week and a half since we would be on vacation.

To our satisfaction, they replaced the oil pan gasket and most of the rear suspension parts and, going one step further, did not charge us anything! In our extended warranty literature it mentions there will be a $100 deductible, but they didn't charge us a cent!

As of right now, we are quite satisfied. We were completely expecting them to charge us the deductible (obviously) and say they could not warranty the rear suspension parts since the parts were not actually bad yet. And, I would have completely understood this, having worked many years in the automotive repair business myself.

-Rod

[KenRosier]

IF this is a 2002 Lincoln LS with 36k miles it's most likely still be under the factory 4 year, 50k warentee.

[shorod]

I didn't think about that. We bought the LS used, is the warranty transferrable?

-Rod

[lcaylor]

Originally Posted by shorod

I didn't think about that. We bought the LS used, is the warranty transferrable?

-Rod

Yes the Warranty is fully transferrable. That is why there is no deductible for the 4yr./50000 mi. coverage.

[shorod]

That's good to know. I guess one of these weekends I should take a really good look over the entire car and make sure everything is in good shape. Thank you for the info!

-Rod

[ljmakes]

We have a 2000 LS with a leaky oil pan gasket. We have a good reliable independant mechanic that says it will cost $800 to repair. It leaks less than 1/4 qt between oil changes. I can live with it.


QUOTE=shorod]My wife recently (3 weeks ago) purchased a 2002 Lincoln LS V6 Sport with 36k miles on it. She loves the car (traded in a '99 Passat for it) but lately it has been leaving spots on the garage floor. I put it up on jackstands and it certainly appears that there is no oil higher than the oil pan gasket. I verified that the bolts were tight (spec is 18 lb-ft). The car is a Lincoln Certified car and we have the extended warranty.

Has anyone other than eL eS had oil pan gasket problems? Just curious if this is as common as the valve cover gaskets. Basically, I want to know if I need to take photos of what the car looks like now so I can make sure the dealer puts everything back together properly, or if the dealer has likely done a few of these.

-Rod[/quote]

[nuckolsk]

Hey rod,
think i found one of your first posts. We are in the middle of my dccv change and the rain forced us in to watch the busch ( nationwide ) race and have a cold one. I keep getting ask for 800 bucks every time i get a oil change at the dealership and laugh at them. Did a search on the problem and did not find much. Have you seen anyone posting about doing this on their own? Proceedures, pics etc.

[shorod]

Yep, this would be one of my first posts on the LS forum, but I frequented the Taurus forum before....

Anyway, if you're asking if there have been folks that have changed the DCCV on their own, the answer is "Yes, several (myself included). I remember finding a thread with some really good information that helped out tremendously. I'll do a little searching for it and, as it's not related to this thread, make a sticky for it on the LS forum main page.

-Rod

[nuckolsk]

got the thread on the dccv. i was looking for threads, instr. , pics etc on changing the oil pan gasket. not about to give the dealer 800 bucks for a job that the book says they charge 5 hours labor on and i am sure they have fiqured out a way to get it done in an hour.

[shorod]

Before I remembered that we had the extended warranty on my wife's car (and not realizing it was still under Mfg warranty) I looked at the procedure to change the oil pan gasket from the factory service manual. Comparing those instructions with physically looking at the car, I'm not sure there are many opportunities for short cuts. If you'd like a PDF of the service manual instructions, send me a Private Message with the request AND an e-mail address for you that can accept attachments.

-Rod

[nuckolsk]

thanks - will do. should be another "fun" weekend. thank goodness i love this car. i would have gotten rid of it a long time ago.