Can I drop the oil pan without lifting the motor? 258

Quick question that I just remembered to ask you fellas. I got a good, thick fel-pro valve cover gasket on her this weekend, but noticed that I have some oil coming out at what looks like the front of the oil pan. I'm thinking I may just need to re-torque the oil pan bolts, but if I need to remove the oil pan and put another gasket on her, can I drop the oil pan without removing anything or lifting the motor? :?

 

Retorqueing the pan bolts is a good way to make it leak more. You don't need a lot of pressure - if the pan leaks, and the bolts aren't loose, it needs a new gasket and/or seal. Don't overtighten - a 1/4" ratchet in your palm is more than enough force. Don't overtighten - all you'll do is dish the metal around the bolts. This is very common on valve covers... they can be installed with a nutdriver and be plenty tight.

There's a front timing cover seal that can leak, and a rear main seal (which usually leaks before the front seal does).

Yes, you can take the pan off. Only passenger cars have problems like, oh, having to lift the engine to get the pan off. There's lots of room.

And BTW, 258s drip a lot of oil from the valve covers typically (often because the valve covers are bent). It can run down the block, so you may not have another leak.

 

When I removed the pan from mine to replace the oil pump I had to remove the passenger engine mount. There were two bolts that were covered by the metal plate on the mount. (at least enough to block access). It wasn't too big a deal, I just used a floor jack to help support the engine and unbolted the mount, did the deal, put the pan back on, and then reattached the motor mount.

 

You don't need to remove the motor, but unless my motor mounts are not correct, you do have to lift the motor slightly.

On mine the motor mount blocked 1 or 2 screws in the oil pan. I had the engine hoist out so I just loosened the motor mount and lifted slightly, but I think you can do the same by lifting the transmission with a floor jack.

On my jeep I left that last oil pan bolt out. No leaks and if I ever need to pull the pan I don't need to fight the motor mount.

Just wondering, are my motor mounts incorect?

 

I had to remove one of my motor mounts. You can loosen the mount and work around it but in the end take the extra few minutes and remove the mount all together. It makes putting the pan back on much easier.

 

Not sure if the motor mounts on the 232 are in the same location as my 304, but, when I installed a new gasket on my pan I ended up grinding a corner off the frame part of the motor mount to get the pan off.