When I just posted the following something strange happened so i am reposting from memory----

Just rebuilt a 57 J-2 371 and have a major oil leak at the front of the motor. When the engine is running the oil is running off the rubber "****" of the front pan seal. The front of the engine is dry and there is no sign of oil on the crank pulley or the timing chain cover and the motor mount is dry.

We used a Best gasket set the first time with black silicon on both sides of the rubber seal and a gob in the corners where the rubber seal and the cork gasket meet.

The second seal is a Felpro unit and it looks to be the same as the best seal. Assembled again with black silicon.

One guy said to omit the rubber seal in the gasket set and use a heavy bead of silicon, dry overnight then assemble snug with more silicon and then torque to spec the next day.

Any suggestions/comments appreciated.

Thanks, Bill

 

Bill I'm not a big fan of the silicone treatment but if Oldsmobile got the pan to seal without it 60 years ago I would look at what you have done again and try again with just the pan gasket. Make sure you haven't over torqued the bolts....Tedd

 

Thanks Tedd---

I did dolly the dimples around the pan bolts flat and torqued them to spec---twice. I did find a break in the silicon on the front rubber seal at 6 o'clock where the silicon was pushed out. Olds may have done it in the day without silicon but today's rubber seals seem rather stiff. I think they need to be either thicker for more "squish" and/or softer.

I'll try your idea of assembling without the silicon except in the corners where the rubber meets the cork. It is only the front seal---the rear is fine.

Bill

 

Hello Bill;
I had an issue with the Felpro gasket set listed for the 57 Oldsmobile. See the attached thread for what I lucked out and found to fix mine up.

Mark
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...an-gasket.html

 

Thanks Mark---

There are two Felpro listings for the 57 Olds pan set. Best Gaskets also has a listing but they include both rubber end seals---the one with Bumps" and one without.

I have replied in detail twice now only to had the reply go into the ozone...

Is there a time limit to post a reply?

 

sometimes I used to have that happen.

I think your "remember me" setting is crucial to preventing this

meanwhile, just before you submit, hit
CTRL-A for select all
CTRL-C for copy
for extra security, take it to a text [notepad] or word processing doc and paste it in

THEN go back and hit submit, and if it fails you still have all that work.

Another trick is to enter ONE sentence, submit, then go back and edit to add more

but, still, copy all you just wrote before hitting submit

 

Good Ideas---thanks---in the future I'll compose in my word processor and copy/past into the forum....