# Oil pan gasket on 2001 sunfire



## wvphysics (Jan 2, 2010)

I have an oil leak. I can't really tell if its coming from the oil pan gasket, or if it is coming from the rear seal around the driveshaft and dripping down. All I see is "wet" brown spots on the oil pan and transmission pan in the areas beteen the two and I cant quite see up to the driveaxle. I figured I might try to just start changing gaskets so I am thinking to try the oil pan first. I am having tourble with finding consistent instructions. Some say just go under and remove bolts, but it looks like if I do that I can't tell if the pan will clear some other stuff. Some instructions say to remove things like the engine strut. I could take a guess at what the engine strut might be, but while under the car I wouldnt want to remove something vital by mistake. Does anyone with experience with a 2001-ish sunfire or cavalier give some clear instructions as what I need to do, possibly with a picture of the engine to point out what needs to be removed.

Although if you think I should start with another gasket feel free to help me there as well.


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## cowboy dan (Apr 11, 2010)

wvphysics said:


> I have an oil leak. I can't really tell if its coming from the oil pan gasket, or if it is coming from the rear seal around the driveshaft and dripping down. All I see is "wet" brown spots on the oil pan and transmission pan in the areas beteen the two and I cant quite see up to the driveaxle. I figured I might try to just start changing gaskets so I am thinking to try the oil pan first. I am having tourble with finding consistent instructions. Some say just go under and remove bolts, but it looks like if I do that I can't tell if the pan will clear some other stuff. Some instructions say to remove things like the engine strut. I could take a guess at what the engine strut might be, but while under the car I wouldnt want to remove something vital by mistake. Does anyone with experience with a 2001-ish sunfire or cavalier give some clear instructions as what I need to do, possibly with a picture of the engine to point out what needs to be removed.
> 
> Although if you think I should start with another gasket feel free to help me there as well.


 

doing the oilpan is fairly straight forward and is a good idea. so is the valve cover ( cam covers). but you might have a clearance issue. on pre 2002 2.4L the oil pump is rather large. it is a twin screw unit, looks like a supercharger. you might also have an issue with tranny lines (auto). you may have brackets that attatch to the oil pan bolts. you won't need to take off major pieces. use 1/4" drive socket 10mm, deep socket may be required. use long extentions and a u-joint if needed. use a gasket scraper, then use brake cleaner, rag and goggles to clean inside and out. 

if it leaks from the driveshaft, it will be red, ie: tranny fluid. not that big of a deal. 
if you have a manual tranny your leak may not be rear main. the getrag tranny is a weak unit. 2002 and later ecotec engines have much better units. could be slave cylinder leak. don't worry though. regardless, it all involves the same procedures. the book on either job is 10hrs... meaning it will take you... 30hrs if you don't sleep. i can walk u through it.

pm if interested.


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## sjcd0406 (10 mo ago)

Can you please give me the details for this please


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## sjcd0406 (10 mo ago)

cowboy dan said:


> doing the oilpan is fairly straight forward and is a good idea. so is the valve cover ( cam covers). but you might have a clearance issue. on pre 2002 2.4L the oil pump is rather large. it is a twin screw unit, looks like a supercharger. you might also have an issue with tranny lines (auto). you may have brackets that attatch to the oil pan bolts. you won't need to take off major pieces. use 1/4" drive socket 10mm, deep socket may be required. use long extentions and a u-joint if needed. use a gasket scraper, then use brake cleaner, rag and goggles to clean inside and out.
> 
> if it leaks from the driveshaft, it will be red, ie: tranny fluid. not that big of a deal.
> if you have a manual tranny your leak may not be rear main. the getrag tranny is a weak unit. 2002 and later ecotec engines have much better units. could be slave cylinder leak. don't worry though. regardless, it all involves the same procedures. the book on either job is 10hrs... meaning it will take you... 30hrs if you don't sleep. i can walk u through it.
> ...


Can you give me details on it please


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

I would start by checking the bolts around the oilpan to be sure they're all tight to the correct torque (which is typiclly fairly low (10-15 ft-lbs) so don't crank on them. A strong guy can usually get them torqued using screwdriver handle or thumbwheel ratchet.

If they are tight enough, or tightening them doesn't fix the leak, then, for me at least, it's time to consider if it's worth the effort and risk of screwing something up in order to fix it. How bad is the leak? What would it cost you if you just leave it alone, and add oil when it's needed? Weigh that against the cost and time to replace the pan gasket, assuming that's where the leak is coming from. If the leak is from the rear main seal, you can buy alot of oil for the cost of having that work done.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

After checking the tightness of the bolts I'd clean the outside of the pan so you can check later and see where the oil is coming from.


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## Brainbucket (Mar 30, 2015)

I get engine oil die. Pour in the engine oil. Drive it around. Then get a black light and you will see where the oil is coming from. It glows a trail of neon green from where it's coming from. They have black light flashlights now. One of my employees has one. I have one of the first ones out for autos. Make diagnosing oil leaks a breeze.


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

I did my oil pan on my sunbird, but it is a 1987, totally different animal. And it's a MT. Oil pan was pretty easy, just a bit binding on ....I forgot, but easy. Go to your local library, and borrow a Haynes manual , it's free.


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## wigginsr181 (Nov 18, 2021)

Before getting too involved with the leak i would maybe snug the pan bolts some but soon after the next thing i would do is a crank case vacuum test . Maybe some remember the parking meter with the big mound of oil soaked dirt under the engine area after a few years . We don't see much of that anymore , not because of no parking meters but because of the crank case vacuum on later cars .


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