Oil pan replacement. 3.5

[snow4me]

I have a pretty bad oil pan leak, it's very rusty. I was thinking about using Rock auto and getting their premium pan which "meets or exceeds" OEM. I don't really care too much, just as long as it does its job. My question is.... do I order a pan gasket or use RTV??? Thanks!!

[Dbot]

Rtv

[snow4me]

Black permatex?

[Riderman]

I have used both in the past.  Black RTV by itself and a gasket with permatex gasket sealer.  Both  worked well, no leaks.

[Funpath01]

I would definitely use a quality gasket and rtv. Is this upper or lower pan? I would do the same for both. No way I would just use rtv.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Funpath01

[snow4me]

On 10/23/2020 at 12:42 AM, Funpath01 said:

I would definitely use a quality gasket and rtv. Is this upper or lower pan? I would do the same for both. No way I would just use rtv.

Lower pan to start. I had a buddy that would use the gaskets with Indian head shellac to glue the gasket to the pan and just bare gasket against to block surface. That was his go to.

[adamzan]

Every pan I do I just use black permatex RTV and never have any leaks. The wd21 pans come with 2 small gaskets at each end the rest is liquid sealant. I would assume the r50 is the same as my VW with the 2 piece oil pan. I used RTV on that as well with no issues.

[snow4me]

Well, I climbed under the pathfinder and wiped off the lower pan, definitely leaking from the lower pan up by the flange. It's pretty bad. I'm not sure if a pan has ever been done on it before, it had 175,000 miles on it but there was no gasket that I could see, just RTV. Also noticed my LH inner tie rod boot was all torn up so I need that as well as the clamps. Stay tuned.

[BamaQX402]

I just did mine, I was back and forth on which one to use. Ended up buying one from eBay for $17 and the gasket for $11. It was just as heavy as the OEM, very solid, no issues.