Could I please ask the experts here how difficult it is to replace the oil pan and gasket in my 97 Accord LE 4Cyl. The Honda dealership tells me there is a small drip coming from the pan due to a rock or something? But the cost for them to replace it is much more than I can afford right now. They did put something in the hole to reduce the dripping to very little, but I would rather it not drip on my dirveway and also want to fix it.
1A Auto has the pan but I would like to know if I have to remove anything else to get the pan out and how difficult it would be to replace the gasket also?
Thank you for your help!
Mac

 

You'll have to remove the exhaust pipe that goes under the pan. You might have to remove a couple stiffening-braces that bolt up to the block & trans. Then possibly remove a little shroud covering the bottom of the bellhousing - so you can get the last few oilpan bolts hidden in between the engine & trans.

Tedious, but not too bad.

ABSOLUTELY support the car properly. You don't want to crawl underneath when it's up on the flimsy little tire-changing jack.

 

I did this on my 95 accord. You will have to remove the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold to the catalytic converter (5 bolts). There was a cover on my manual transmission I had to remove. Not sure if you are driving an auto or manual.

I would download the 94 shop manual from one of the links in the Online Manuals thread in the DIY section. DesertHonda has a writeup in the main DIY section about this about replacing that gasket as well.

 

Jim and PAhonda, Thank you both for taking the time to reply and also for the expert guidance and advice. I was able to find DesertHondas DIY writeup and how to. I just hope I don't bust off the many exaust/muffler bolts and able to reuse them to put the exaust back together again, LOL.
Thanks again!
Mac

 

The exhaust bolts can be a big pain, especially if they haven't been removed in a while. Just hit them with some PB Blaster before hand and hope for the best.

Perhaps the most important part with the pan itself is to tighten the bolts to the right torque specs when putting it back on, and to do them in the correct order.

Normally I would tell people to be careful removing it because oil pans are incredibly easy to bend, but since yours is already ruined its not a big issue.

 

What sequence do you recommend? I've seen this sequence so far:
- start from middle and go crosswise from side to side to the front to getg each to slightly snug, then come back and torque each one in same sequence (a bit past snug if doing it without a torque wrench).

 

lots of good advice in here - i just thought i'd toss in the fact that i recently changed my headers and exhaust and i found soaking everything in PBB for a few days was the only way i was getting those bolts off.

And yes - never get under there w/out jack stands but ESPECIALLY with a job like this as you're really going to have to work on those bolts to get them off.
i even put the tires on their side under the car as a just in case.

 

If you want to be prepared for them to break, you can get a set of exhaust bolts & plan on using the new ones to re-assemble it.