All,

I finally got my new 93' engine all squared away and it now runs great.

In the process of doing this, I replaced the oil pan gasket. I had to pound out several of the holes that had been over-tightened before I put it back together. When I did put it back together, I torqued the bolts to 8 ft-lbs.

Now after several idling events where I just warmed the car up for about 10 minutes or so, I am seeing some seeping on the passenger side of the engine.

I don't want to tighten the pan much more, but I know I have to so that this seeping stops. My current thought is to warm the engine up again so that everything expands as this is most likely what has happened, thus causing the seeping, then remove the stiffener and the just lightly tighten the bolts so that when they contract on a cold engine the seeping will stop.

Any thoughts as to what I'm proposing here?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Hi,

I have not seen anybody stepping up to the plate to answer you. It might be the holidays.

First of all, I have never done a pan gasket on any engine but my old Ford truck many years ago. Back then all that offered was cork or cork bits in a rubber sheet.

I do not know what material Volvo uses but it's better than those old days. Ford use a rope like material for the rear main seal in the mid seventies. No lip seals!
No wonder it dripped like a Harley-Davidison. Detroit and Milwaukee iron are not far enough apart! It has been my thinking after many years of seeing and driving assorted vehicles.

I think you are doing is what I would do, except, I don't know if warming an engine would make that much a difference. Rerun the bolts to factory specs as best as you can.
The heat would expand the pan in width and length. I think that is about all.
What it would do to the bolts is actually minimized. They are not stretched like the way you would normally use a bolt. You never get solid. It's like in limbo searching for the sweet spot.

A gasket material is not as solid as copper, nor as expensive, but is made to mimic its metallic qualities without the pressures involved. Gasket material can be cut into more intricate shapes, thinner, more flexible and forgiving during assembly.

Today's theory is two folded.
One is cross laying fiber that gets compressed. Each fiber cuts across the other channels that form along the length of itself on the outside plus any internal pathways will get crushed.

The next is a cold forming philosophy. Either with fiber material or at the molecular level of various polymers. The shapes also get crushed into an interlace.
Both are designed to conform and fill into the minute surface irregularities of then intended sealing surface.
Every machining method leaves microscopic trails or grooves from metal removal.

The trick is to make everything have pathways smaller then the substance you are trying to contain.
This means the materials must have it's own molecules to be as big or bigger or manipulated in a shape to seal them so they cannot travel.

If a proper gasket material is chosen against the substance to be contained it will not leak.
The use of surface additives have to conform to the same rules above.

The first questions from any gasket maker or additive sealer are.....?
What type of material are you trying to contain?
What pressure and temperature will this gasket be used?
What will be the condition of the sealing surfaces and then the discussion slips to what their materials require.

I ask the same! Was there any instruction or recommendations included with your oil pan seal kit?
As far as I know, if nothing is mentioned about it, it goes on naked!
So did you use any sealants on the gasket thinking to fill voids on the oil pan?


The engineer has to come up with the way to get the surfaces compressed to the level the material needs. He has to used those specifications or pay dear for painting himself into a corner. It's then board meetings start and the conversations get serious!

Same goes for the aftermarket gasket provider. The cross reference has to the to the same or like material performance or things are not nice!

Can you identify the gasket material from printing on the sides?
Does the thickness appear to be equal to the last gasket?

What brand did you use and post it to know if it's a common supplier.
Maybe it is inferior to what others have had better success with.

What or how did you check the oil pan for straightness or warpage both?

We all like to share our notes!

Even those, like me, who don't have any!
Phil

Phil,

So in answer to some of your many questions, here goes.

I use Felpro gaskets on all my oil pans and valve covers. Other people may have other opinions and brands they use, but for me, these things just work, period.

Of the four 240's that I currently own, I've done 3 oil pans with Felpro. One was done by feel before I knew about the torque spec was, and the other two were done after I knew what it was.

1989, by hand,
1990 & 93 with torque setting.

The 89', from what I can see appears to be fine and I did this one over 7 years ago.

The 1990, was done in March of this year, however, I did not look to see if the holes of the pan I was putting on were dimpled or not. My suspicion is at this time that I over looked this one important thing as it is seeping quite heavily and I may need to drop the pan yet again to fix this problem. I'm not looking forward to this, however I have gotten quite good at it that I might be able to do this in about 4 hours or less from start to finish. I'll time myself next time I do it.

The 1993 I just did and the seeping has not gotten any worse from my original post. I did do what I mentioned I was planning on doing yesterday. I did think about what you said about expansion and all, and you may be correct to a point, but there will be some expansion from heat regardless, so being the engineer that I am, I went ahead and just tugged just a little bit more on each bolt and then let the engine cool down. Time will tell whether or not I'm right in my assumptions.

What I do know is that this 1993 will be a blast to drive once I'm done with my work on it, though this will be some time. What I know now is that the engine is now running like it ought to be running and I feel that I've done my best to save yet another 240.

Merry Christmas!

Matt
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1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245