Replace oil pan gasket?

[MikeBeckner]

Noticed some oil on the garage floor from my 2010 SEL 3.0, 278K miles.  Hard to tell from my initial view but it looks like seepage around the oil pan. Is this a common/likely source? I’ll take a closer look tomorrow but am looking at possibilities tonight.  Any good guides for replacing the pan gasket? Other possibilities?

Edited January 23, 2021 by MikeBeckner

[FXT]

With 278k miles there is most probably a decent buildup of crap which is going to impede figuring out the likely location.

I would raise the car (ramps) and get a pressure washer in the local area  to clean it back best as possible then check it again a day or two later.

[MikeBeckner]

6 hours ago, FXT said:

With 278k miles there is most probably a decent buildup of crap which is going to impede figuring out the likely location.

I would raise the car (ramps) and get a pressure washer in the local area  to clean it back best as possible then check it again a day or two later.

thx fxt. 

[MikeBeckner]

Any decent quality videos showing the gasket replacement?

[drolds1]

https://youtu.be/V2QqApmpRxA

[Wulfdan]

I did this exact job on my 2010 over the weekend.  Your pan gasket is probably hard as a rock like mine was.  I've got 221k on my fusion and she was leaking big time.  Got all over the lower motor mount and trashed that, was getting on the exhaust and giving me a lovely smell in the AC.

 

Job goes like this.

 

Go ahead and smear some grease on ya cause you're gonna get dirty.  Drain the oil.

 

1. pull the radiator fan/shroud assy.  I had to pull my upper radiator hose out of the way to get mine out

2. Take the exhaust manifold shield loose.  You have to get it out of the way to access the bolts holding the manifold on.  Take the front exhaust manifold loose.  two of those nuts are easiest to access if you pull the oil filter and go at them from underneath.  Once you have the manifold loose up top, go under and take the exhaust bracket loose so the manifold and piping can drop down.  You'll probably have to take the exhaust loose from the other manifold to get enough drop.  

3. With the exhaust out of the way, pull the oil pan bolts.  Beware that two bolts are horizontal and attach to the transaxle housing.  Don't do what I did and pop bolts then have the pan land on your head because you didn't support it.  It hurts.

4. With the pan out, head over to the workbench and replace your gasket.  Go back under the car and clean that gasket mating surface.  I used a little pick and blade to get all the old rtv off.

5. Do whatever cleaning you feel motivated to do.  I cleaned out the bottom of the pan because why not?

6. Apply a generous blob of RTV where indicated on gasket.  You'll see where it was when it comes off.

7.  Put it back together.  Don't kill the oil pan bolts.  They need to be tight, but not super tight. You don't want to crush the gasket.  There's a torque spec out there somewhere if you're motivated.

 

Good Luck,  took me all day to do the job, but I added replacing the engine mount so that added a bit of time.