The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop oil pan advise?

Mine is a 66 chevy, been having a lot of trouble getting the oil pan to stop leaking. I have replaced the front mail seal (chevy 350) put new taming chain cover w/gaskets and a new oil pan with rubber 1 piece gasket and i still have a small leak in the front of the oil pan at center. I am going nuts. The 1 piece i got is kind of thick are thier different ones. Should i have gotten a thinner one? Thanks in advance for and insight.

It may be that you have a burr or some type of groove on the end of your crankshaft. No matter how much you change the front seal it will still leak if thats the problem. There are only two solutions, pull the crank and have it machined or replace it. Neither are cheap nor fun to do. I would dread it but I would do it anyway. You might be able to pull the timing cover and look with a magnifying glass or strong reading glasses and check for metal imperfections on the end of the shaft. Then take some emery cloth, VERY fine and lightly sand it off and see if that works. If it is too deep to sand off then what I suggested may be the only thing to do. Either way its a pain in the posterior anatomy. I wish you well. Henry

Yikes, thanks. The leak comes from the oil pan side of the gasket. It is dry around the block.

OK, two things are happening that haven't been addresses here. First, there are two different thicknesses of front pan seal on 350's, and the 1-piece gasket only works with one of them, the thin one, I think. Take that 1-piece thing out, and pitch it as far as you can throw it! There are certain years of coverage where the gasket set will have two different front seals, and a measurement specification for which one to use with your pan. Glue the correct end seal to the timing cover with yellow trim cement to keep it in place while you install the pan, and use a small quantity of RTV rubber sealer at the joint where the cork side gaskets meet the rubber ends. Tighten the bolts only until they're slightly snug, then go 1/2 turn more. DON'T overtighten the bolts until the gasket bulges!

Second problem- - - -the timing cover seal runs against the harmonic balancer, not the crankshaft. If there's a wear groove there, there's a repair part called a "speedy sleeve" that can be pressed over the balancer snout to cover the groove. It's stainless steel, so it lasts much longer than the soft steel surface of the original balancer surface. Be careful installing the sleeve, it's pretty fragile.

Oil pan sealing is very unforgiving of mistakes. You've only got one chance to do it right!
Jerry

What Hotrod L said. I use a torque wrench on them. No run, no drips, no errors.

Thanks , i have replaced the harmonic balancer seal already no leaks. The leak comes from the center of the oil pan on the front at the bottom of the gasket. I was thinking the gasket was to thick. I heard the cork ones with the front and back pieces were junk.