Oil pan

In the past, as a stopgap measure (as in when I don't have a pan gasket) I've gotten the engine good and hot, drained the oil for a change, then run a quart or two of gasoline down the filler and let it drain out into the drain pan. Not sure how much it really does though. Last engine I had the pan off of (my GF's '90 Corrado) was rather sludgy I thought. As far as lifting the engine, with a few blocks of wood and a floor jack, you ought to be able to handle it rather easily unless I'm missing something. Just set the wood on edge and jack on the pan edges, not the flat bottom part. Then block up the motor mounts when you go to do the work.

good luck

nate

Where can one get quantities of carb cleaner necessary for such activities? (and cheaper than a pan gasket?) None of the psrts stores around here sell the little "dip cans" or the solvent to go in them.

nate

The EPA may have banned it. The last pail I purchased was at least 10 years ago from Safety Kleen. Safety Kleen at one time would take an old pail back to recycle but they stopped doing that at least 10 yrs ago too. Something about chlorinated solvents. You-or anyone- can have the pail (5 gals) I still have; must be picked up.

Chas Hurst

Nate, you might get lucky if you check with a local garage. They have to clean carbs with something--maybe a different chemical base, but should work just the same. If you really got lucky, you might catch him when he's ready to "change" his carb cleaning fluid, in which case the used may do just about as good as new--may hafta let it soak a little longer after straining it thru a thick cotton sock. As far as your friend's stuck rings, this would likely do no good--at least directly like it would do for the oil pump. Indirectly, by having cleaner oil and better circulation, the detergent in the oil may help unstick the rings. HTH & good luck. sdlomi PS: If you know someone at a textile plant, you might get some perchlorethylene--best general-parts-washer fluid I ever used. And one thing I used was dry cleaning fluid, prolly next best. Remember, the quantity you need is only that sufficient to cover the oil pump & o/p pickup tube.

Just called Advance Auto Parts & they sell 1-gallon(How about that? 1 gal.= 4 qts.= enough for practically any pan!) buckets of carb soak which come with a drip-pail included. Even if a gallon cost 40-50 bucks(Am sure it's much cheaper than that!), still would be a bargain when compared to the labor in jacking up some engines & removing necessary parts to get the pan off. Like I said before, it can be gotten SOMEWHERE--maybe cheaper in certain places, so I'd check around. (Luckily I bought 2 tanks of R-12 and a 21/2-gal. bucket of carb soak before I "medically-retired" from auto business. Have used only a few lbs. of the R-12 & no carb cleaner yet.

Locally NAPA carries the carb cleaner in gallon containers. How do you add the carb cleaner? Do you pour it in thru the oil fill in the valve cover or do you add it thru the oil dip stick or does it make a difference? Thank you for your original reply.

Don

now-liquefied

Pour it in just like pouring in oil.

Flush it with kerosine to get the sludge out Put in 3 qts of kero and let it sit and desolve the sludge. Do that untill the kero runs clean when you drain it. Refill with clean oil. Change the oil and filter after a short drive