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reusable oil pan seal

What initially looked like a water pump leak turned into a timing cover seal problem diagnosed by a local mechanic on my 2000 Town & Country van with 97,000 miles. Since he had never done this job, I decided to take it to the Chrysler dealer, who has done repairs for this car in the past. (I was initially hoping to save money with the local mechanic.) I approved a repair of the timing cover seal and water pump (first mechanic advised that this may need to be done also) for $600. Late in the day, they called to say the car had an oil leak because they put back the "reusable" oil pan seal. Now they need to replace the seal to stop the leak and plan to charge me an extra $100 to do that. Is a gasket really reusable at 97,000 miles? Why wouldn't they just replace it while they were doing the first job? If it is reusable, how do I know they didn't damage it or reinstall it improperly?

Reply to
annmacd
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That doesn't sound right. The only *resuable* seal that I have heard of, is the new one that Chrysler offers for transmissions. I have always understood that gaskets must be replaced anytime they are separated from the mating surface(s).

-Kirk Matheson

Reply to
kmatheson

Not much you can do. They may be giving you a song and dance, but how would you prove anything - that's the risk of any car repair. One of those decisions with some risk, and on this one, they lost - except the risk (and loss) was yours since DC says the gasket is re-usable and you didn't tell them to replace it anyway to eliminate the risk. For that reason, when I replaced the oil pan on my Concorde a year or so ago (stripped drain plug hole threads) that has the same type of "re-usable" gasket, for the extra $20 that a new OEM gasket cost, I replaced the gasket with no regrets. Live and learn.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Nope - it's the metal with raised rubber edging (very much like the recessed o-ring oil drain plug that I described a couple of weeks ago as the ideal plug). - actually pretty ideal because since it's guranteed that the rubber will not be over-compressed (i.e., mashed thru/cold formed) *AND* that a minimum of bolt torque will compress the rubber to that exact same point, the range of torque that will give a good seal is as wide as you can possibly get (meaning it is not dependent on the skill and smarts of the mechanic nearly as much as traditional either all-compressible material or all-metal gaskets. I looked in the LH car FSM (not same engine, but same type of gasket), and, in the oil pan R&R section, on the "Installation" section, it says to inspect the gasket and re-use if in good shape. No doubt the T&C FSM says the same thing. Two possibilities: They are lying, or the gasket was marginal and the bad part wasn't visibly obvious - not easy to prove either way - life's too short.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

I agree

Apparently you missed the part where Bill said:

"...meaning it is not dependent on the skill and smarts of the mechanic nearly as much as traditional either all-compressible material or all-metal gaskets. ..."

In other words, the gasket exists so you don't have to "torque it up good", ie: it exists to make it easier for boneheads to install, not because it seals better

Ted.

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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