Seriously! The Drama Won't End-144 Rebuild

Hello All, And thanks for following the drama of my Comet 144. To "65Fastback,": Your oil problem has spread to me! I went to change the break-in oil in my newly rebuilt motor, only to notice oil coming out the rear! It has similar symptoms to "65"s problem, but I'm fairly certain it's the rear pan rubber seal. Some oil looks like it got in the bell, but most is on the rear oil pan area, and the outside of the bell dust shield, not inside. It stays dry when sitting or even when running in place, but leaks when driving on the road...I'm guessing because of oil slosh. I'm SO disappointed--I paid good money for this rebuild. In fact, I watched the builder put the pan on...I mentioned how in my experience these end seals were squirrelly. He nonchalantly put it together without really checking for best fit, telling me it was fine, and the excess rubber will just press down in and seal. I'm an idiot. I just wanted my motor back after 6 weeks. I'm sure they would fix this if "all" I do is pull the motor and bring it in. Heck, I can put on a pan gasket...they should pull the motor for me! Part II of my rant in next post...

Yes, I know I don't have to pull the whole motor, but I might as well. If I don't, it looks like this:
1). Remove motor mount nuts and jack up motor 3 inches
2). Remove front sway bar
3). Remove pan bolts and pull out frontwards.
4). Try to put on new gasket while working upside down under he car, getting the rubber ends to somehow stay in place while you lift the pan up. GRRRR! ...Oh yes, I already tried just tightening the pan.

Hopefully it is just the round pan seal and he didn't put the rear main in backwards or leave the pin in if you didn't use a rope seal.

I think those are ok. He, and the shop, have a lot of experience, but might lack some humility. Plus, they do a lot of high-end racing engines and such, and I was just a "bumpkin" with a straight six. I actually mentioned the pin and rope seal in our conversations just to make sure he knew about it. He drove the pin out (or in).

Six weeks? Sounds nice. I've been down for six months

don't they dab some RTV on the ends only?
(I've been @ it coupla yrs...

If you end up pulling the engine out and have it on an engine stand with bottom end facing up this is how I install the pan gaskets for a good leak free seal. Clean up all the surfaces and Glue down the oil pan gaskets (the cork types) to the engine blocks rails with some contact cement. Then let it sit long enough to cure overnight is good. On the rubber end gaskets I only put a small dabe of silicone in each of the corners where they meet the cork pan gaskets. Finally check and straighten as needed the oil pan rails then use a little silicon or the non Hardening Permatex on the pan rails. Install the pan bolts in the corners first (larger bolts) then all the others start by snugging up the corner bolts and then the others working from the center out. Do not over tighten the pan bolts or it wil push the gaskets out and damage them. Also with the oil pan gaskets installed this way you can usually remove the oil pan once sometime in the future if ever you needed to without damaging the cork gaskets. Good luck

Thanks for the good tips. What I've noticed in the past on these particular gaskets (Fel Pro, at least), is that the end rubber seals are almost slightly too long, and need to be carefully pressed into the end cap groove. Sometimes the little tang on the cork gasket needs to be shortened a bit to fit in the notch of the rubber. You guys will get a chuckle over what I did last night--in order to confirm it was the rear pan gasket, I took the flywheel dust cover--the part that fits up against the pan, and ran a bead of silicone on it where it comes in contact with the rear gasket. I drove 6 miles to work today, and no leak! Of course, it still needs to be fixed the right way.

Update: The good news is the engine is still running well, and oil leak is mostly gone with my "quick fix." As soon as I get time, though, I'll pull the pan and replace the gasket. I'm 99% sure that's it, although you always fear the rear main seal. It's hard to see how the engine builder could screw that up, though. I'll try to see what I can see there when the pan is off. Ive pretty much decided not to pull the motor again--I'll just put the car on stands, unbolt and jack up the engine 3 inches, and loosen/drop the front sway bar. I think putting in a couple of headless bolts in the block will help line the pan up when I reinstall.
I did actually shoot off a terse email to the shop. He told me to bring the car up and leave it for a few days and he would straighten it out. For them, a few days is more like two weeks, and I think I'd rather know I did the job--and they didn't have my car to cruise around in for two weeks!