2.3L ('83-'97) 1990 2.3 severe oil pan leak after engine rebuild

[Juddys123]

Recently swapped a 2.3 turbo off a 87 turbo coupe into my 1990 2.3 5 speed truck. I installed a new oil pan gasket, cleaned surfaces adequately, and used rtv silicone in the four corners where the gasket meets the edge of the rear main cap and the front seal housing. After firing the truck up there is a steady drip that makes no sense for having a brand new gasket. Oil is visibly seeping out between the oil pan and block and running to the bottom of the oil pan. The gasket fit perfectly into the grooves in the oil pan and seemed like the correct one. Planning on dropping the trans to slide it out back and reseal with some good silicone but wanted to know if there is anything I could've missed.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Recently swapped a 2.3 turbo off a 87 turbo coupe into my 1990 2.3 5 speed truck. I installed a new oil pan gasket, cleaned surfaces adequately, and used rtv silicone in the four corners where the gasket meets the edge of the rear main cap and the front seal housing. After firing the truck up there is a steady drip that makes no sense for having a brand new gasket. Oil is visibly seeping out between the oil pan and block and running to the bottom of the oil pan. The gasket fit perfectly into the grooves in the oil pan and seemed like the correct one. Planning on dropping the trans to slide it out back and reseal with some good silicone but wanted to know if there is anything I could've missed.

Pan warped?

 

[Shran]

I don't suppose you pinched the dipstick between the pan & block when you reinstalled the oil pan? I did that once and didn't notice until I was torquing the pan bolts and the pan cracked. I probably would have noticed if I had the engine out of the truck but I did it with the engine in the vehicle during a clutch replacement.

 

[Juddys123]

@Shran The oil pan was installed before the dipstick. I'm curious about if the front seal housing alignment with the block could create a sealing issue with the pan gasket. I don't have the front seal alignment tool so I just let it rest over the crank before tightening the bolts down. It could be possible that the fron seal housing being too far down could cause a sealing issue with the oil pan.

 

[Shran]

If your leak appears to be coming from the front seal area then yes that's logical. I will say that I fought that issue for a long time. I had a machine shop go through the whole engine and the first seal they installed puked oil everywhere. It developed a knock almost immediately and they had to take it back and fix it. The second seal they installed also leaked a lot. I replaced it at least two more times and it continued leaking really bad so I gave up and let it drip.

The weird part is that it quit leaking after a couple years. Been bone dry for probably 5 or more years now.

The very weird part is now a lot of the oil pan bolt heads have broken off. Probably unrelated.

 

[Mechrick]

Older gaskets were cork, newer gaskets were rubber, and the seal retainers changed designs to reflect this. Which seal retainer do you have and did you use a rubber gasket?

 

[scotts90ranger]

Older gaskets were cork, newer gaskets were rubber, and the seal retainers changed designs to reflect this. Which seal retainer do you have and did you use a rubber gasket?

This change was in '86, the first turbo engine I put in my '90 was a '85 and I ended up filling the rear main trough with lead (JB weld was way too much work) but it worked after that. The engine I have in now is an '86 and I didn't have to do that.

That's my guess, I usually leave the front seal housing loose until the oil pan is on and make sure the two are seated together before final torqueing.