I'm going to drop my oil pan on my 94 F150 5.0 XLT 4x4 this week to replace the gasket that's leaking really bad. Just want to hear some opinions on what to expect during the labor?

 

this is on my list of things to do too. anyone?

 

Giant pain. If you're only replacing the gasket, you -might- be able to do it without lifting the engine, though I doubt it. I replaced the pan itself and had to use a hoist to raise the engine and then blocks to hold it up securely. Honestly, if I had to do the job over again I'd just pull the engine out and do the job on a stand. Wouldn't take much longer and you could take care of anything else that might need some work such as valve and intake gaskets, rear main, etc.

 

True, but if you don't have access to the hoist then yo can't do that. What I did when I did it numerous times is this:

Remove intake manifold (you can get away with not, but you can jack engine higher if you do). Remove nuts from motor mounts and loosen tranny mount. Careful of the tranny linkage as if you raise the truck too high with it on, it can bump the frame and get bent. I detached it it's simple. Raise engine with jack, but obviously not from pan. I did it from harmonic balancer (just be careful). Now...you have a choice here....You can leave engine on jack OR remove motor mounts and put wood blocks there to keep engine in place. Raise it high. Now....One problem- the exhaust crosses over down there right under the pan and its a pain. I cut it and put clamps to reattach it. Other than that, there isn't a lot of room. You're gonna have to drop the pan and leave it hang because it won't clear the oil pump and pickup. You are gonna have to reach in there with the pan hanging and remove the pickup and pump and drop them in the pan then the pan will come off. That job sucks I've done it many times like this. If I were you, if you do it now would be a real good time to do the pump and pickup while you are down there. Both are cheap.

 

Thank you.