Neglection of Festiva Repairs

[collegeboi]

So the consequence of neglection results in some much needed repairs.

I have been busy this past semester with my prelaw program which is the reason for my excuse. I need a minial of a 3.6/8 for the next two years to be consideredto law school and have been daily driving for over 5,000 miles (no tune up). Yes idiotic but the pressure got to me.

Now the oil is slowly leaking from the oil pan and head gasket. To top that off the oil pan bolt is rounded as well as 2 head bolts.

The point is that I have little money and its my DD so major repairs such as full gasket replacement is out of the question for at least the semester.


This is my plan (please give advise or tips on any of the following)
* I know more is needed but time constraits and no $*

1. Clean entire engine with simple green/similar product (makes work a bit easier to me)
2. Bolt tap/extracter for the 3 bolts
3. oil pan/bolt/gasket( suggestions? brands? rockauto?) and oil
4. head gasket, razor, high temp brake fluid (again suggestions,brans,rockauto?()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once I get the leakage out of the way then basic tune up
5. trans flush, air and oil filter, spark plugs, disty cap and rotor.
6. oxy sensor

It seems simple but chances are its gonna take weeks.



I know I am behind 5,000 miles but hopefully nothing else is wrong because the engine, trans, and brakes are strong. Its just the slow leak for now

[MONSOON]

YGPM hopefully thatll give you a couple answers. And might even have the answer for the oil pan bolt also. One of them says something about a "gator" socket or something. Check it out.

[collegeboi]

Awsome, yeah thnx for the threads.

[Mike McKown]

See if you can find a 6 point SAE sized socket that will fit tight on the rounded metric bolt head.

Why do you think you need a tune-up after only 5000 miles?

[zoe60]

An oil leak like that could also be a cam or crank seal. Diagnose correctly and avoid unneeded work.

[festivaWES]

You should be able to turn that rounded oil pan bolt out with a pair of vice grips....it not like they are torqued to 100ft lbs.

You should be able to get the head bolt out as well without tapping them, plus that just dangerous tapping into the block through the head. See it you and hammer on a smaller sized 12pt socket.....as that is what the head bolts are.

[TominMO]

Once you get the valve cover off and are putting on the new valve cover gasket, I would recommend putting a little high-temp wheel bearing grease on both the head surface and the gasket itself, to further improve its sealing ability. I do this with all gaskets including on the oil filter, and even the drain pan bolt threads. Wherever I use it, the motor stays leak-free.

[festivaWES]

that what they make rtv blue/black/gry silicone for!!

[Banana Bonanza]

that what they make rtv blue/black/gry silicone for!!

No kidding. I prefer not using it, but if I have pan or valve cover that just wont seal otherwise, I clean all surfaces within an inch of their life and ultra-copper both surfaces with no gasket, loosely bolt on the cover and let it cure overnight before tightening bolts. Look ma, no leaks. Course its royal pain to ever remove such a glued on valve cover or oil pan in the future.

[TominMO]

No kidding. I prefer not using it, but if I have pan or valve cover that just wont seal otherwise, I clean all surfaces within an inch of their life and ultra-copper both surfaces with no gasket, loosely bolt on the cover and let it cure overnight before tightening bolts. Look ma, no leaks. Course its royal pain to ever remove such a glued on valve cover or oil pan in the future.

You can use wheel bearing grease here too; and another advantage of doing so is that the mating surfaces come right apart when you want them to.

I have no objection to using silicon; this is just another way to do things, and I have found it to be universally good--oil drain bolt threads (no need to get new drain plug gasket), oil filter gasket, all other gaskets. Bear in mind that grease is just ridiculously thick oil, so any oil will not get past the grease. The only (slight) caveat is that I haven't tried it on an engine that is using synthetic oil, but I doubt that it would matter.

[collegeboi]

Thanks for the tips guys. I see fresher? oil slowly seeping through the oil pan gasket and on the head gasket. I'm thinking these are the areas being the oil looks a bit newer.

This is my reasoning for cleaning the bay first so I know the first time around what is what.

Another Q: I hear foam based cleaning products are better then simple green because these actually stick to the oil rather than slide of? Would a combination be better?

Do they sell the bearing grease or silicone at walmart?

[TominMO]

Another Q: I hear foam based cleaning products are better then simple green because these actually stick to the oil rather than slide of? Would a combination be better?

Do they sell the bearing grease or silicone at walmart?

I'd get off all the caked-on oil I could with a plastic scraper, then hit it with foamy Engine Brite for example; let it sit 10 minutes then rinse. Repeat as needed. I use Simple Green mainly for the rest of the engine bay, not a really oily motor, although SG does cut grease and oil too.

You can probably get high-temp bearing grease or the silicon stuff at Wal-Mart, or of course any McParts store.

Possibly it's only the valve cover gasket that's leaking, all the way down the motor to the oil pan, so yeah clean it first and then check it out. But for sure do the valve cover, regardless. (I'm assuming that when you say head gasket you mean valve cover gasket. Please correct if wrong.)

[collegeboi]

I always get those two wrong, Im talking about the gaskets right above the spark plugs

[doylerl]

I have had good luck with "purple power" cleaner. You can get it at advance auto or even walmart. You can get a gallon jug for like $12. This stuff kicks butt. I have not used the other stuff that other people are talking about, but I will stick with the purple power. It just follows the old motto: "If it aint broke, don't fix it" It works, so that's what I use. Hope this helps.

[anomoly40]

I've had a oilpan bolt in the SRT4 that WOULD NOT come off. Turns out the PO had hit a rock and it had bent the oilpan in the bolt area. New oilpans are like $75 so I guess it happens often.