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Hey friends. I know it's not wholly relevant to the B3 necessarily, but I'm curious to know whether there might be common ground between an issue I'm having with my 323. The original oil pan gasket is evidently still hanging in there, but had considerable leak/drip problems from multiple corners. I was successfully able to remove the 16 or so standard M6x1.25 10mm head bolts that keep it in place... on 3 of the sides that don't overlap/touch/mesh with the transmission. An oil buildup near the exhaust manifold was mysteriously solved by redoing the exhaust manifold gasket as well - some of those bolts were very lightly torqued... anyway, my particular B6 is mated to a three-speed automatic. There seem to be two nuts/bolts (maybe more) that are discretely tucked in where the oil pan meets the transmission, and it was literally impossible to figure out how a wrench or socket might be able to actually get a grip on it... and needle-nose pliers/vice grips accomplished nothing at all.
With the 16 standard bolts, the oil pan did sag an inch or two - enough to get some oil-resistant high temp RTV on there, the original gasket cleaned/trimmed, and the new valley insert on the water pump side replaced. I torqued all those to the proper spec, let the RTV bond, and it seems to have seriously improved the oil pressure within the system. However, it only managed to alleviate 3/4 of the leaks I was experiencing... and now the one from the transmission side is prohibitively strong, preventing me from even moving/starting the car without a drip tray underneath. Though there's certainly a chance the oil level is slightly overfilled, the sagging of the pan tells me that there's probably a bow/bend on that as-of-yet impossible to reach side.
I'm wondering if anybody's encountered and solved anything similar in their Mazda/Ford-ventures over the past couple of decades. Some pointers would be most appreciated, because I'm exceedingly frustrated with this problem to the point where I'm just biking and walking everywhere. Thanks much for the help/support!
With the 16 standard bolts, the oil pan did sag an inch or two - enough to get some oil-resistant high temp RTV on there, the original gasket cleaned/trimmed, and the new valley insert on the water pump side replaced. I torqued all those to the proper spec, let the RTV bond, and it seems to have seriously improved the oil pressure within the system. However, it only managed to alleviate 3/4 of the leaks I was experiencing... and now the one from the transmission side is prohibitively strong, preventing me from even moving/starting the car without a drip tray underneath. Though there's certainly a chance the oil level is slightly overfilled, the sagging of the pan tells me that there's probably a bow/bend on that as-of-yet impossible to reach side.
I'm wondering if anybody's encountered and solved anything similar in their Mazda/Ford-ventures over the past couple of decades. Some pointers would be most appreciated, because I'm exceedingly frustrated with this problem to the point where I'm just biking and walking everywhere. Thanks much for the help/support!
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