Oil Pan Gasket Sealant

[Bernie Benz]

> From: Phil Rose <pjrose at frontiernet.net>
> 
> At 8:22 AM -0700 7/12/04, George Sidman wrote:
>> John:    I recently went through this one. Bentley recommends no
>> sealant. However, I lightly coated everything with RTV Silicon,
>> and used Locktite on the pan bolts.
> 
> Not a bad idea to use Loctite on those bolts. My car's oil pan
> probably still has its original gasket, but I'd suddenly began to
> observe considerable seepage down the side of the pan--evidently from
> one small area of the pan seal directly above the drain plug area.
> One of those pan bolts was easily loosenable with just fingertip
> force and the adjacent several bolts were also in need of tightening.
> A bit of snugging up and the oil leak seems to be gone.
> 
> Phil
The compression set of a solid gasket over time requires subsequent bolt
tightening to prevent aging leaks.  If you use Loctite, use a low strength
version such that you can retighten later.
When using a gel gasket material (Si caulk) without a solid gasket (my
preference for all but head gaskets) there is no time related compression
set and the original bolt torque should remain constant for the life of the
joint.  The gasket is also the Loctite.

Bernie