E30 M50 oil pan removal.....

[El Gato Liso]

i blew out my oil pan...

any thoughts of how i can take this oil pan off without pulling the engine?

[Wishno87]

Pull the tranny and maybe the subframe. I know, it sucks.

[sharky]

suspend engine, remove engine mount bolts and drop front subframe. Not a fun job but thats how you do it.

[nrubenstein]

suspend engine, remove engine mount bolts and drop front subframe. Not a fun job but thats how you do it.

Note that you'll need to pull the trans if you used a G260.

[etxxz]

on a zf, you can get away with just lowering the subframe about 2 inches. i left everything else attached. Does requires you to remove the power steering pump (leave lines attached) and suspend the engine. I put 2" pieces of wood in between the subframe and the car frame to keep it there and the pan came right out. No problem with bolt access... i'm sneaky.

Note that you'll need to pull the trans if you used a G260.

true... and good luck.

[DREWHALL]

I've only had the 24v in for a few weeks now, what makes you have to pull the 260 as opposed to the ZF? Just wondering for future reference. I'm not excited to hear this!

[etxxz]

the oil pan has a few bolts in the back that the G260 won't allow you to reach because of the bellhousing whereas the ZF has very convenient cutouts for it. In other words, the tranny has to come off in order for you to remove the oil pan.

[graphikg]

F! That means I should do my oil pan now since my tranny is out. perfect timing on the thread. Is there a write-up on this?

[RoadHazard]

Drop the subframe. That's how I did mine.

Yeah it sucks.

[graphikg]

The subframe consists of just 4 bolts on the chassis right? But dont you have to unbolt the sway bar too?

[etxxz]

^^ it helped, that's for sure.

[graphikg]

I dont have a crane to suspend the engine, so I might just have to hold the engine up with jack stands by the enginen mount arms. What a crappy job... But at least my tranny is out already. - do it while you're there.

[etxxz]

oh boy am i gonna get flamed. i jacked up the engine and used ratcheting tow straps around a 2x4 (~60" long) that span from fender to fender. It rested on 2x4 bases (~8"long) and they themselves rested on towels. Dropped the subframe, removed my pan. Found out my crank is plausibly bent (type of bearing wear after OPN failure), cyl 4 walls are scratched to hell and out of round, so put the subframe back up and hoisted the motor out this weekend... wish i owned a hoist thankfully i have a lot of motor head friends.

-master driveway mechanic

[graphikg]

I am doing the job now, and there is no way I am going to do it successfully without suspending the engine correctly. Bottom line is... I need a hoist or this engine will fall on me. I tried using the rafters of the garage, but NOOO WAYY.

[DREWHALL]

LOL rafters. Yeah it's nice to have a hoist. Try craigslist a lot of times you can find a used one for less than half the price of a new one that works fine.