Thread: Remind me--whats involved in 305 rear main seal replacement?

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IF you step on the edge of the oil drain pan instead of in the center, that $300 labor charge will seem cheap.....

The frugal in me always says "do it yourself" but the age-induced arthirits tendencies always say "let the younger guy do it"

Their hourly rate must be under $100 an hour...not bad for a shop these days.

Good laugh, Robot. Do you suppose that is how we kept our svelte selves for so many years, until we finally got the drill down pat? Now, by the time I got to step 6, I'd just lay there on the creeper and take a nap - not necessarily by choice either, it would probably be needed.

and don't forget - there's a step in there somewhere (usually when I'm under the car and just starting to reef on a stuck bolt) that you have to crawl back out and take a leak..

and better yet, the "forget to take your shoes off" step (when going in to use the can) and get oil on the carpet - incur the wrath of wife and pay for dinner out and having the carpet cleaned...

Originally Posted by glennsexton

and don't forget - there's a step in there somewhere (usually when I'm under the car and just starting to reef on a stuck bolt) that you have to crawl back out and take a leak..

In this day and age, at least in my case, that seems to be every other step.

Brian wrote:

Can you believe $407.55! That includes a new rear seal and a pan gasket.--but $300 of the cost is labour

Hell, at that rate I'd be already a quarter of the way to a new crate engine, albeit a 250 hp model. Not that I'm opposed to a little hard work, but laying on a cold concrete floor would be something I would have preferred to do when I was 25, not 62.

Well---It seems that perhaps the Hotrod Gods are smiling on me!!! I finally got around to putting the roadster pickup up on blocks today so that I could weasel my fat old bod under it. I cleaned up the immense puddle of oil off the garage floor, and wiped off the nasty grungy oilpan and oil filter and all surrounding engine parts. I did not see any "tracking" around the back of the pan like I would have expected to see if the rear seal was bad.---But----While I was under there, wiping and cleaning, another drip of oil formed right at the oilpan drain plug???? I thought Hmmm---thats interesting! So, I grabbed a big adjustable wrench, and got about another 1/8 turn on the oilpan plug. then I started the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes.---After the engine ran long enough that the oil was hot (and thin) I crawled back underneath with the trouble light while the engine was running, and did a close up inspection.---no oil anywhere except another drip formed at the oilpan plug. I see that the bottom of the pan has bumped something, as the paint is scratched off the bottom of it close to the plug. I thought that maybe the pan had a split in it, but after wiping it again the oil is not coming out of where the paint was scraped off---it is definitly oozing out around the plug. On my pan, the drainplug sets up high enough that it wouldn't be bumped by whatever scraped the pan. I THINK that there should be a copper gasket under the lip of that oilpan plug. If I have lived right, then maybe-----just maybe, all I need is a new copper gasket.

Man oh man - that would be a real gift. I've had a few leaks from bad drain plugs. I now keep a bunch of the nylon washers and just put a new one in every time I change oil. The copper ones are probably better, but the nylon seem to work fine as well.

Regards,
Glenn

I just drained the oil and took out the plug. Yes, there is a copper washer--although it doesn't look like copper.---It looks like aluminum??? and a magnet won't stick to it. I can definitly see a couple of "divots" in the sealing surface. I am going down to the oil change place right now and get a proper copper washer.

IMHO nylon seals better than copper as far as the oil drain plug goes.

Thank you, Hotrod Gods!!! That stupid gasket washer was aluminum---its what came on the pan when I bought it new 5 years ago. I went down street and bought a 65 cent copper washer at PartSource, reinstalled the oilpan plug with new washer and torqued it down with a 1/2" drive hand ratchet. The leak is gone. I put the oil back into the engine and ran it for 20 minutes, and no more drips. I got lucky on this one.