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Alright, where to start. So I was unable to remove the cross member from the car, one of the rear bolts turns and pops, like whatever is holding it is just spinning with the bolt. I did loosen the other rear bolt, along with both front bolts, which gave me enough play to move the bar side to side a bit. I dropped the exhaust manifold, and then removed the oil pan bolts. Got it off, and the plate slid right off no problem. I did notice there was no oil pan gasket, the person before me must have just used silicone as well.

For tomorrow i Have to put a starter in my mother in laws 01 galant, 6 cylinder. If that goes smooth, i'll aim for getting the oil pan and bottom of the block cleaned up and ready to go back together....oil everywhere. I got a can of brake cleaner, so I hope that goes well.

Was dam cold today, but sunny, so it helped...sux it was turkey day and i had to do the family thing half way through this.

DSMs never use an oil pan gasket. They exist, but silicone works better.

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Early 2000's: 1992 Summit sedan - 14.1 @ 100.9mph w/ 155/80 13s
2012: 1989 Dodge Colt GT Turbo - 14.9 @ 100mph, 10psi/s16G

Buy some grey RTV made by Permatex, HondaBond, YamaBond, whatever Mazda, Toyota, Victor Reinz or any dealer uses to seal engine parts with. Grey, black or pink <- not the red stuff, and I hope their aren't any blue options out there. Just don't get some crappy household stuff that says, appropriate for windows and doors. I've had that delivered to my work before, and it's never made me so hot under the collar, as it does then and manages to set us back quite a bit of time waiting on more to arrive; from a more appropriate parts supplier.
Seal it once and walk away. It will take quite some time to cure, so don't add oil right away and if it is in a garage setting, heat the garage for a half day and keep the parts warm. I've never liked the idea of something curing outside of it's recommended temperature range, ya dig?

Sounds like a plan. I'll probably see about more silicone tomarrow while im getting the starter.Down side is, I dont have a garage, so it's gonna have to sit for a bit outside. I'll read the label and stick with the directions. Hope it works out.

Don't be afraid to go buy an oil pan gasket! They are a whopping $8 for the 4g63.

The nut that corresponds to the crossmember bolt that you cannot remove has decided to break loose from the chassis. I have had success in this exact situation by using a pry bar to keep a lot of tension on the bolt as you are threading it out. A penetrating oil also can be used to reduce the friction between the nut and bolt. If you do manage to remove said bolt give it a good cleaning, cover it in anti-seize or even axle grease then install using the same method as removal.

When you are assembling the oil pan and timing components make certain to use the shortest oil pan bolt directly under the timing belt. With the 4g6x engines a bolt that is too long can, and will, touch the timing belt and cause damage. I am not positive if the same is true for the engine in your car, but it doesn't hurt to throw it out there.

Good luck mang!

thanks man, good to know. I didn't have time to work on it today after the starter, but black friday x-mas shopping for the hellions has to come before anything LOL. So tomorrow I'll be starting on the cleanup of the oil pan, and bottom of the block, with a scraper, and brake cleaner to remove the oil/grime.

When removing the oil pan, I read somewhere that the short bolts go in under the plate i removed, so the 4 that bolted to it through the pan I kept separate, though i didn't notice any difference in size off hand. I'll be looking more into it when the time comes to use them though.

Gonna be another cold one tomorrow, next week is supposed to warm up, but I hear rain is coming then too. Just taking it one day at a time, trying to do what I can without causing more damage in the process.

The pry bar Idea sounds pretty slick, i'll have to try it if i feel installing the oil pan with the cross member in the way will lead to disaster.

I'll keep ya posted.

you know its cold when the women lets ya bring car parts in to get them cleaned up LOL. I taped plastic down on the freezer, and used it as a table while i cleaned up the oil pan and crank seal plate for the new gaskets/silicone.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40's. I'll be under the car cleaning the block, and with luck, I'll have the new gasket/silicone part completed around 2 or 3 depending on how hard it is to clean it up.

Any tips? I've been using a metal wire brush that is hand held, a paint scraper, 1000 grit sand paper, and brake cleaner(outside of course).

I'd just use a razor blade on the block to scrape the old sealant off. I used to do the same on the oil pan as well but one day I got smart and chucked the wire brush into my air powered angle grinder. It works perfect getting the sealant out of that groove. I had it clean and ready to put back on in minutes. Might help to mask off the pan though so little bits of sealant don't get trapped in the baffles.

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

^^^ Wire brush on our grinder setup works wonders for those grooves and rust on the pan. Helped me restore mine where it would have been more tedious with a small grinder and 3M green+brown discs.

The high-speed wire wheel works on the oil pan as you can rinse the pan out in a utility sink or with a garden hose. But if used on the bottom of the block you will have chunks thrown onto the rods, crank and up into the block. I'm not comfortable with chunks of paper and RTV of unknown size floating around in my oil so I stick to the ravor blade and a copper pot-scrubber.

Like I mentioned, a blade or something on the block. Leave the power tools/wire brush to something that can be thoroughly cleaned afterwards.

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

well after 5 hrs of chipping away at the old crank seal gasket, I've got it almost completely off except for the very top and the very back. If i had my drill I'd buy a wire brush wheel and use it on the outside, but having to settle for the sand paper, paint scraper, and hand wire brush.

It wasn't as cold today, but it was really cloudy/hard to see under the car. I hope tomorrow is better, but the women works 10am to 1pm so I'm just shooting to try and get the motor completely cleaned, and maybe try to start putting it back together depending on how long it takes to clean.

Rough day, but some progress is better than none. The hellions are in school tomorrow too, so that should help a bit too.

Alright, got the crank seal on and the oil pan, which was a pain with the x-member and exhaust pipe in the way with the oil pickup tube combo.

Tomorrow I'll begin re-assembly while the silicone dries, and thursday afternoon, if all goes well, i'll be trying to start it.

Well, got the car back together about an hour or so ago, now its just a waiting game to add oil and hope it doesnt leak.

Thanks again for all the help/suggestions/tips from everyone.

I'll let you guys know how well it turned out.

Ben

Well, I drove about 100 miles today, hard to tell with the rain, but i dont think there is any leaks