Oil Pan Removal

[RednBlack]

Haynes is very vague on this subject. They say at the beginning of the chapter, "If you have an automatic transmission, you may have to remove the transaxle". I don't feel like getting under the car right now to find out, but the oil pan is coming off soon. Tell me if my 94 Cutlass needs the transaxle removed and why.

[Dave's Z-34]

I just finished this painful process a couple of weeks ago in a 93 Lumina Z-34. I also referred to a Haynes manual but didn't follow one step of it as it was vague and didn't seem to make any sense at all??

I had to unbolt the engine mounts, trans mount & dogbone. The starter has to be unbolted and pushed aside. I jacked the motor up from underneath until I had enough room from the engine cradle to drop the pan. There is very little room to work with.

The motor had to be lifted so high that the steering arm came apart inside the boot at the firewall. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until after all was finished and went to drive the car out of my garage. I had to unbolt the mounts again and raise the engine enough to be able to drop it back down connecting the steering arm at the same time.

I'm not sure if this was the easiest way and others might have a better way of doing it. There is a vent that comes down from the front of the engine that was interferring with the pan also. I couldn't find a way to reinstall it and ended up leaving it off. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, don't even know what it was for that matter.

[RednBlack]

I just got back from the shop. Put it on a lift, and my worst fears disappeared. I thought I had a bottom end rattle, turned out to be the cat came apart! Cool! Thanx Dave for the post, maybe someone else will get use out of it. I get a new high flo cat. Lot's cheaper than what I was gonna do! And a couple more ponies. (My stupidity for not replacing when I did the Borlas.) Maybe this thread will help others in the future.

[bud36light]

Come on you two you know the easiest way would be to just drive down your favorite back roads before the beer ran out! I just got done changing my own oil and looked at this. Maybe might be able to just hang the motor and pull the sub frame to get the pan off. Looked like the four cradle bolts , few tranny line bolts and motor mounts.

[RednBlack]

It was my stupidity for jumping the gun and posting this. I never had a cat come apart. Sounded like the rods went on vacation. Got the Flowmaster HiFlo Cat, installed for $115. The Cutty is Happy!

[Dave's Z-34]

Ummm, errrr at least you didn't jump the gun and actually go ahead with this job and end up not needing to like I did........

Should never have to worry about the pan leaking anyways, is what I keep telling myself..........

[Dave's Z-34]

Which leads to my question. The vent that comes down between the front bank and oil pan. What is it? What is it for? I couldn't get the bottom boot back on and put the pan back on without it. The bottom boot is about 4" in length and comes down far enough so its even with the bottom of the motor. Mine now sits 4" higher, can this hurt anything??

[bluegtp]

are you talking a little plastic pvc vent (black) that's about 3-4 inches in width and maybe an inch wide? If so, its a vent for your alternator, I would know, I just finished replacing the alt