Oil Pan Re-Seal Tips?

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

Hello.

I will be re-sealing my lower oil pan this weekend (maybe this evening) and I just wanted to ask if there are any tips that people have to make this go well.

So far my plan is as follows:

  1. Jack up car and put on jack stands.
  2. Remove front sway bar.
  3. Remove front frame brace.
  4. Drain oil.
  5. Unbolt brackets around oil pan.
  6. Unbolt and remove oil pan (be careful to not bend lip)
  7. Clean block surface and clean oil pan surface.
  8. Install 4 - 2.5 inch M6x1.0 studs onto block to easily align oil pan without disturbing gasket bead.
  9. Apply Reinzosil gasket material in a bead to block surface
  10. Install oil pan and loosely screw in oil pan bolts.
  11. Torque bolts in 2 passes in star pattern. 5 N-M then 9 N-M.
  12. Allow gasket to cure for at least 1-hour (I may let it cure overnight)
  13. Re-install brace and sway bar.
  14. Add oil to proper level.

Anything suggestions or anything that I have missed? Thanks.

#2

Well, got the oil pan re-sealed. So far so good. Was not as bad as I thought.

There is plenty of room to work. Bentley manual is again not quite accurate on what to do. Bentley says to remove both the cross brace and the sway bar. Only the cross brace needs to be removed; 3 nuts on each side. Then you can just swing the sway bar out the way.

Remove the bolts holding the various tubes to the side of the block around the oil pan.

Then remove the oil pan.

I clean the pan surface with a wire brush. It will take off a little bit of the paint but so will using a plastic scraper so it really doesn’t matter.

I then put 2 screw in M6-1.0 studs for alignment and applied the Reinzosil to the block surface. Then placed the oil pan and installed the bolts.

Tightened in two passed in star pattern. 5 N-m then 9 N-m.

So far it doesn’t look like its leaking.

#3

The biggest tip I can give was the studs. That really helps realign the pan when it comes time to place it back on. You really wont see any leaks until you really whamp on it. The leaks usually will pop up if your pcv system is not pulling enough pressure out of the crank case.