Best way to pull an oil pan?
 

I have a leaky cork gasket on my oil pan and its driving me nuts so I got a new NOT cork gasket to replace it with. But whats the best way to get the pan off?

Hold the motor up and drop the front cross member? (Does the entire cross member have to be dropped entirely? or just a little?)

Undo the pan then slip a wrench between the pan and block to undo the pickup tube? (How do I get the pickup tube back on afterwords?)

Pull the motor? (REALLY, Dont want to)

I can tell each of them have their own pros and cons. But I'm not sure which would be the best way to do it....

I am sure, you could probably take the motor mounts loose. Then put the car on jack stands. Then use the jack, and raise the motor up by the bell housing. And you should have enough clearance to get the pan off and such. Good luck man.

Ya I'm thinking thats probably the best way to do it too, Tho I was thinking more of an engine hoist, or holding it up by the crank pulley. I hope I can get this dont before monday lol

BTW Your sig pics look awesome.

Thanks man, yeah it was a lot of work. But well worth it.

Of course, the engine hoist. Yeah that would work also. I didn't think of that. lol I'll keep that in mind myself. If I have to do something difficult like you are doing. I am sure you can get it done, in less than a day. You can work on a TT 300zx. I know those are headaches. So an oil pan gasket on a 280zx, should be a breeze. Good luck man.

Heh Thanks.

Well I had to do a mix of the 2 Raise the engine and undo the pickup tube. The cross member didnt want to move. And from what I can tell its not leaking anymore! Yay!

I also decided to FINALLY install the front part of the sway bar bushings audiofreak gave me. It feels a little better tho. I'll do the rear tomorrow.

You are welcome. Cool, good to hear you got it done. And other things, since you were under there. Good times. :D

I cant believe it took ALL damn day. I figured a few hours. not nearly 10 hours. Didn't help that a lot of my tools are oddly missing either...

But its done, that's cool part good job. Whenever I do anything I'll think, this will take a couple hours. 10 hours later I'm done. Irritated but, done.

I know what you mean.

Oh and I'm still leaking oil.... Not from the pan tho. but idk where. Probably the NEW rear main seal. Next time, I'm just gonna pull the motor and save myself the backache

did you have to disconnect the motor from the tranny or just loosen the motor mounts? I have to do my pan gasket soon too.

I actually undid the motor mounts and used an engine hoist on the lifting point of the block (that loop behind the power steering pump) and lifted it off the mounts till the engine just barely touched the firewall. Then I had to slide a wrench in sideways between the block and the pan and unbolt the pickup tube.

Im having a problem getting my oil pan off. All the bolts are removed but the damn thing wont drop its like the pan is glued to the block. I've been trying to pry it off without damaging the edges but it doesn't budge. Any ideas, tips, or tricks?

Tap it with a mallet... as long as you have ACTUALLY removed all bolts. :D

I used a wide but flat chisel and tapped it between the pan and the block, that popped it off really fast.