How difficult is it to remove the oil pan from a 1500, v6, auto, 2wd, swb? I see that the strut bars rienforcing the transmission bell housing will have to be removed, but is it neccessary to lift the engine. I'm used to working with Fords, where the oil pan is extremely difficult to get out, and this one looks pretty easy to me. My Haynes manual says the engine has to be lifted up to get the clearance.

The engine taps a couple of times at start up, and i'm not sure if its the crappy FRAM oil filter (huge no-no on Fords anyway) or sludge in the oil pan/pickup tube. If its reletively easy to get the pan off, i'd like to know for sure its able to pickup the oil effectively.

 

i know for sure that on the 4wd, you do not have to lift the engine, but cannot swear about the 2wd. i don't remember any threads on here where the person did have to lift the engine, so i suspect the haynes manual is incorrect.

the easy part is to remove the 2 braces. the hard part for me was to remove the silly starter, which pins the inspection cover on, which in turn, catches the lip of the oil pan. i tried to avoid removing the starter, but was never able to unhook the rear lip of the oil pan. maybe you'll have better luck than i did. disconnect battery before messing with the starter, as you have the big HOT wire that will spark(weld) if you allow it to touch ground. the problem i ran into was the starter bolt and upper nut was torqued to about 100 pounds or more. 3/8 extensions twisted and flexed. i had to stack a couple of 1/2 drive extensions to get out beyond the engine mount, and then use a big pull bar to break it loose.

when reassembling it helps to have an assistant to help guide the pan and gasket in place, as its sort of big and awkward. tip from someone. put a piece of duct tape, or string in the corner hole to hold the gasket in place while you guide the pan into position. don't forget to remove it.

if you do pull the pan, go ahead and replace the oil pump with the melling high volume.

 

here's a how to.

if your rear main is leaking - this is a perfect time to fix it.

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech-article-31.html

 

Ok, you're going to need a jack, jack stands, a grinder, a sawzall, a sledge hammer, a big crow bar, an assistant, gloves, a torch, a shotgun, beer, goggles....





































I'm just messing with ya, listen to dhvaughan.

 

i recognize all those needs including the shotgun, but what are the googles for? ricocheting pellets i guess. LOL

actually you won't need the jack nor the stands, but depending on your neighborhood, keep the shotgun close by.

 

Goggles for sparks off the grinder. Every time I've been to the eye doctor it was because of an object hitting me in the eye. Twice it was from grinding sparks hitting my cheek, then glasses, then eyeball.
It isn't all bad though because my eye doctor is hot.

A jack may be required depending on belly size, two wheelers sit pretty low.

 

lol guys...good to know I don't need to lift the engine. Do these engines suffer from low oil presure? I was going to replace the crappy FRAM oil filter with a motorcraft FL-A1 one since I heard some people on here use them, plus all my other vehicles use this filter and I know they have an anti-drainback valve. It looks like the front and rear main seals both leak very slightly, but i'm hesitant to mess with the main caps. I'll go for the new oil pump if there is anyway to get it into the budget. I still have a variety of other issues to deal with before this thing is ready to be a DD again.