Okay, this has been a nightmare. I attempted to fix a oil leak this Friday. The leak had started just over a week ago and was only about 1 drop per night but wanting to save my drive way I decided lets google how hard it is to fix this.

I started by replacing the oil dran plug in hopes that I would get lucky but no luck. I discovered it was coming from the seal and that it would be in my best interested to replace the oil pan sealant.

Friday night I pulled my car into the garage and started removing the oil pan and had a hell of time getting the old rtv to let go and give me the pan. After removing the pan and cleaning it quite alot I reapplied rtv and put the pan into place.

But while putting in the bolts and torquing them down one of them snapped. I was praying that I would get lucky and that it wouldn't leak with only one bolt snapped off.

I was wrong. Poured in oil the next day after letting the new rtv settle and got a consistent drop per hour (worse then it was before).

I removed the oil pan and cleaned it again. I tried using a screw removal set and had no luck so I called asked some people on craigslist if they could drill it out completely and retap it. Well someone did respond and offered to put in a heli coil. We put in a heli coil and put on new rtv and filled the oil pan.

It dripped just as bad as before but now it has all the bolts in.

I am confused and feel like we didn't use nearly enough rtv on one side. I would drop it again and do the whole process again but am worried about backing out the heli coil since I was told its kindof a one time thing.

So what I have done is drain the oil over night in my garage and am now applying more rtv to the outside lip in a nice smooth fashion hoping that it will settle since there is no oil present.

Ill let everyone know if this works and is there any suggestions on what to do at this point. I am also considering if the rtv dose not work on the outside using a little jd weld on the side that gets the one drop per hour.

Thank you

 

Did you just clean the surface, or grind it smooth with a grinder? Also, if you are going to drop it again, do yourself a favor and buy new bolts. Shouldn't be to expensive, and you wont risk breaking bolts again. Make sure you also know how much you are torqing the bolts. I think its like 15 ft/lbs but double check before quoting me. If your bolts are breaking with 15 ft/lbs of torq, you have weak bolts.

What part of the pan is it leaking from. Make sure that you are 100% loosing oil from the pan. I am sure you probably asses this by visual ques, but double checking that the oil isn't coming from some where else would save you head aches. I assume since the amount of oil lost changed during the process that it is in fact coming from the oil pan, but like I said, double checking might save you some headache.

RTV on the outside of the pan isn't going to do much. It might band aid the problem for a day or two, but its not a long term solution. Also, depending on the Helicoil that the person used, you should be able to reuse it. Again at 15 ft/lbs of torq, its not in there real tight. Worse case scenario is you need a new helicoil. You seem like a diyer, so just google how to helicoil.

My advice it do it right, or pay somebody to have it done right. If you don't, you are going to have the same issue over and over again.

Good Luck! and welcome to owning a Maxima!

 

You need to buy a new oil pan and bolts, I bought mine at courtesyparts.com. Remove the old oil pan, clean the area and remove the excess sealant. You need to buy the Nissan OEM 1217H Liquid gasket (part# 999MP-1217HP). Apply this sealant to the oil pan without any gasket. Screw the bolt using your hand, tighten it up to 12 ft/lbs torque. Let it dry for at least 2 hours before adding oil.
Good Luck

 

My guess is that you are doing three things wrong.

1. you are not completely cleaning the mating surfaces. If you have a dremel, get a brass wire bit (get two) and use that. It will not damage the surfaces and will get everything clean. Once cleaned off, clean it with acetone.

2. You are overtorquing the bolts. Listen to what people here are telling you - or better yet check the fsm for proper torque. Use a torque wrench if you need to on one to figure out how tight they need to be.

3. And the number one thing you are likely doing wrong is not following the torquing sequence in the fsm. When you do that, and over torque, you end up with a disaster.

 

I'll add that you need to verify the leak. The pan could possibly be leaking now, especially if you accidentally bent the pan trying to remove it. You indicated having a hard time with it, so it could had been damaged. Assuming the leak was initially elsehere, the pan may be now joining an original leak.

If you have the 3.5 engine, the oil cooler is prone to leaking. It will leak down and initially appear to be the oil pan gasket. My suggestion is ensure it is leaking from the pan. If it appears to be coming from the corner below the oil cooler, its likely the cooler. If the pan does appear to be at least part of the issue, youre going to need to just replace the pan. I suggest a 4th gen lower pan if you are considering headers. The 4th gen pan drains the oil toward the passenger wheel instead of toward the rear of the car. I also suggest buying both oil cooler gaskets and using BOTH instead of just one.

Here are the oil cooler gasket part numbers. 1.) 21304-JA11A 2.) 21304-17F20

Contact Wayne or Ray with Tri-cities Nissan or through www.nissanpartsasap.com for best oem pricing.

 

You could try replacing lower oil pan? It doesn't come with a gasket and I reused the old bolts

 

I replaced all my bolts because its covered with rust.

 

For the 2003 Maxima, isn't there just 1 o-ring for the oil cooler? If so, would it be the 21304-JA11A unit?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can confirm.

 

Yes. It's a very easy replacement. You don't even have to disconnect the lines, but I did on the right side just to get more room and make sure it went on flat.

 

I wouldn't worry about damaging the helicoil. The bolt should come right out.

If you brought it to me here's what I'd do.

* remove the oil pan
* properly clean all the RTV off both surfaces. Use a sharp razer blade and follow up with some steel wool if necessary. Be careful with the steel wool on the upper oil pan because it will round off the machined flat surface on the soft aluminum.
* make sure the helicoil is sitting flush, or recessed, and isn't poking up at all.
* use a straight edge and make to make sure you didn't warp the pan when prying it off. I saw a guy do this on an 04 Max and it pissed like crazy. If it's warped it needs to be straightened of replaced.
* get some high quality RTV like Hondabond (from the Honda dealer). It's worth the extra money.
* clean both surfaces with a brake parts cleaner or alcohol. Make sure no oil drips down onto the surface from up in the motor.
* apply the RTV to BOTH surfaces. This will keep it from "skinning" and not bonding to the other surface. Smear it into the surfaces to make sure it's sticking. You don't need a lot but it should be consistent and cover the whole surface. Most of it will squeeze out anyway.
* place the pan and install two bolts opposite from each other but not even finger tight. Just take out the slack
* install the rest of the bolts loosely finger tight. You can use a socket to save your fingers but be easy.
* start tightening the bolts in a cross pattern but get them just to the point where the RTV STARTS to squeeze out. Once you get them all, go around again. As you come back around, the ones you tightened will be loose again. Keep going around till they start to bottom out. Go around one or two more times tightening them. It's VERY important to draw the pan up evenly. In a perfect world you'd tighten them all at the exact same time but that's not possible outside the factory.
* let it sit overnight then fill it up and go.

If the pan is straight, you use quality RTV and torque the bolts evenly it shouldn't leak at all.

 

No...you fell for the resurrection, too

 

Crap!