I am going to have to replace the lower oil pan gasket in my '97 soon. Goodyear quoted me $300 bucks in labor alone. I was wondering if there is something I've overlooked as it looks to me like all I need to do is remove some bolts and then replace the gasket. I'm talking about the lower oil pan with the drainplug in it. Can anyone confirm that Goodyear is out of their mind and I just need to remove the bolts drop the plan and replace the gasket?

 

There's no gasket on the lower oilpan. It's just sealant. All you have to do is take off a bunch of little 10mm (I think they are 10mm) bolts and then pry the lower oil pan off. It'll take a while to clean the old sealant off the mating surfaces depending on how much of a perfectionist you are. You're going to get oily, there is still a bit of oil in the engine even after "draining" it. $300 to do it is absurd. It's probably a half hour to an hour worth of work and none of it takes the least bit of mechanical ability, its bolts and prying and then scraping old sealant off, then putting new sealant on, putting on the pan and bolting it up.

EDIT: You probably don't even need to scrape the old sealant off in reality, but I did because I'm a perfectionist-type person

 

its permatex grey and thats all you need.

 

hmm Parts store have that permatex? I bought a gasket from O'reilly's they say it's for the lower oil pan... WTF! These places don't know jack **** about our car's I guess. I guess thats the problem with living in Ioway where there's a total of 8 4g Maxima's and they're all on the .org.

 

permatex its at most auto parts stores
http://www.permatex.com/auto/autouh....&item_no=82194

 

DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN THOSE BOLTS!!! Stripping the threads is all too easy. Either tighten a little bit at a time, or use an in-lb torque wrench.

 

Are you sure it's the oil pan thats leaking and not the ever so common oil pressure switch thats leaking oil all over the pan?

 

I'm not 100% sure yet. I replaced the switch, so I've got to get under there to take a look. When I changed my oil last time thought, I noticed that there was some oil that SEEMED to be leaking from the pan. I'll check again though, thanks everyone for all of your input!