Where are the most common places or mistakes on a 200 that cause a oil leak at the back of the motor? Are good pans hard to come by? Whats your technique for trying to straighten an abused pan? What area(s) are the most critical to have straignt (or round) for these pans?
After tearing down my 200 and not really finding anything wrong but still spending a lot of money on it I figured it was not a total waste of time and money because at least I took care of some leaks. I was under the car yesterday (after 250 or so miles) and saw the bottom of the oil pan and most of the transmission is coverd with motor oil. The edge of the pan is clean and dry as is the front. I appears to be coming from the back end. I cant tell if its the seal on the crank, around the rear main cap, the seal between the pan and main cap, or any of those transition areas. I put a new rubber lip type of seal on the main and didnt use any sealer on it as per the fel pro instructions. I used a bit of sealer in the edge of the main cap where it meets the block on the sides (cant remember where I read that) but with oil on the bearing it wouldnt supprise me if that stuff got oil on it. I didnt use a pan gasket because of the condition of my pan (after 2 hours of beating on it). I did use the rubber bits on the ends and rtv on the rest. I think I got plenty in the transition areas. The front and rest of the pan doesnt seem to be leaking so I did alright on the rest. I just set the pan on and pulled it down enough that it just started to squish the rtv and then let it sit for 24 hours before snuggin them up. I think I will try going a bit tighter on the pan bolts in the back since I have nothing to loose worst case I will have to pull the motor again. It took only an hour last time and now that I know a few tricks I should be able to do it faster this time. I have another pan but it was in some ways worse than the one I ended up using.
After tearing down my 200 and not really finding anything wrong but still spending a lot of money on it I figured it was not a total waste of time and money because at least I took care of some leaks. I was under the car yesterday (after 250 or so miles) and saw the bottom of the oil pan and most of the transmission is coverd with motor oil. The edge of the pan is clean and dry as is the front. I appears to be coming from the back end. I cant tell if its the seal on the crank, around the rear main cap, the seal between the pan and main cap, or any of those transition areas. I put a new rubber lip type of seal on the main and didnt use any sealer on it as per the fel pro instructions. I used a bit of sealer in the edge of the main cap where it meets the block on the sides (cant remember where I read that) but with oil on the bearing it wouldnt supprise me if that stuff got oil on it. I didnt use a pan gasket because of the condition of my pan (after 2 hours of beating on it). I did use the rubber bits on the ends and rtv on the rest. I think I got plenty in the transition areas. The front and rest of the pan doesnt seem to be leaking so I did alright on the rest. I just set the pan on and pulled it down enough that it just started to squish the rtv and then let it sit for 24 hours before snuggin them up. I think I will try going a bit tighter on the pan bolts in the back since I have nothing to loose worst case I will have to pull the motor again. It took only an hour last time and now that I know a few tricks I should be able to do it faster this time. I have another pan but it was in some ways worse than the one I ended up using.
