Comments on BMW 3-Series Oil Pan Gasket Replacement

[actuator]

I own a 1996 318ti with and automatic transmission so I really appreciated Mike Sibbs comments. I did jack my engine up,but first I jacked the car up and put 12 inch high jack stands at the front jacking points on the car. I then removed the lower nuts on both motor mounts. Next I placed my jack under the oil pan with an eight to 10 inch long piece of 2x4 on the jack pad to help spread the load out on the oil pan. Then I jacked up the motor and made 2 shims to go under the motor mounts. Then I removed the jack from under the oil pan. For the shims I used 4 inch long pieces of a 2x4 and cut 1/2 inch wide slots in them for the motor mount studs to fit between.
The left side shim fit fine, but the right side did not quite fit in. I had to jack the right motor mount arm up a little more to make the shim fit. You will know that the motor is jacked high enough when the back end of the valve cover touches the air conditioning intake mounted aft and above the engine. After jacking you will have enough clearance about 1/4 inch between the oil pan and the transmission housing to remove the oil pan.
If I had to do it again I might try removing the upper motor mount nuts, jack the engine and then remove the motor mounts and put shims under the motor mount arms instead, since the rubber motor mounts settle somewhat when you remove the jack from the engine. One more thing. When you order your oil pan gasket order a new oil pan pick-up tube gasket and a new clamp for the automatic transmission oil cooler lines which are clamped to the oil pan. The clamp will probably disintegrate like mine did when I removed It.

Followup: I wanted to add a few more things to my earlier comment on the oil pan gasket change. Get a new oil dip stick tube o-ring and install it on the dip stick tube before reinserting it into the pan. Because of clearance issues you need to partially install the dip stick tube just before you bolt up the pan. Get someone to help you do it. Next,before you jack up the engine remove the lower nuts from the transmission rubber mounts on the transmission cross brace. And remove the exhaust bracket below the transmission. this is quick and easy to do and it will keep them from being damaged when you raise the engine. Hope this comment is helpful.

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This post was auto-generated based upon a question asked on our tech article page here: Pelican Technical Article: BMW Oil Pan Gasket Replacement

[Wayne 962]