I've got a friend of mine with a '97 850 Turbo and he managed to bust a hole in the oil pan. Thankfully he shut the car off in time to save the engine. I'm doing what I can to help him out and he's in the process of buying a new oil pan.

I haven't gotten to look under the car yet, but are you able to remove the oil pan from under the car, or is anything blocking it? Basically, can you just pull the pan or do you have to pull the motor or anything else?

Thanks.

 

Just put a new motor in my 95 850 2 weeks ago. One line holder with 2 bolts underneath. Otherwise I do not see why you could not pull the oil pan from the bottom with ease.

 

Very nice. My friend apparently accessed some service manuals and confirmed that himself before I could tell him what I found out. I've dealt with stuff like this before and I'm hoping we can have it done in a few hours once he gets everything together.

Do you know if we can reuse the oil pan bolts or will those have to be replaced with new ones on installation?

 

I have done it twice in the driveway from the bottom and I have a pan for sale if you are interested.

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-850-16/how-swap-your-oil-pan-your-driveway-31485/

 

Thanks but the he already bought one from someone else online.

It's great to hear that you don't have to pull the motor - a shop had told him that you had to - and wanted to charge him $900 to do it!

 

Well, my friend acquired the RTV sealant and gasket kit, oil and filter today so I set to work. I referenced the instructions on the thread posted above, but I hit a bit of a snag. It turns out that he damaged the motor mount as well as the oil pan.

Also, the bracket with the oil lines on the right side of the pan has a stripped torx bolt so I will have to drill it out. I removed all of the bolts and the pan is ready to come off, it's just blocked by the two power steering lines and still connected at that bracket.

Whenever I do get the oil pan off, how long should I let the RTV cure before we attempt to start and run the car?

 

It should be good by the time you get it all together.

 

Does anyone know what the dimensions are on those two T45 (I think) bolts on the bracket on the right side of the oil pan? When I drill the stripped one out I will obviously need a new one. I'm really dreading having to finish this job.

 

Sorry I do not.

 

Another question, is there an actual gasket for the oil pan / engine block mating surface or is it just the RTV?

 

there is no actual gasket- the pan on these engines is structural. And, you really shouldn't use RTV, either. There's a special anaerobic liquid sealer that is used from the factory on these engines. RTV needs to have contact with air in order to cure, and when pressed together, it doesn't cure as fast, plus, it's elastic, which will allow movement between the pan and block mating surfaces. Only use RTV if you've really nicked the hell out of the pan or block mating surfaces. The anaerobic sealer goes on thin, dries rock hard, and cures in the absence of air... in fact, it stays liquid unless there's no air present. It's expensive stuff, about $20/ tube from the local stealership, but it's better than having to re- do the job. Also, get some thread sealer and coat the 3 bolts that go on the front of the engine below the crankshaft pulley with it- they go into an oil passage and are prone to leaking if not sealed. Those T45 bolts where the oil thermostat attaches to the pan are M8X(I think)1.25. They could me M8X1.5.

 

There is no physical gasket, it is a chemical gasket.

 

Hit a bit of a snag. Pan's ready to come out but both of the torx bolts and the hex bolt for the oil thermostat are stripped out. I tried a few bolt extractor taps but no luck yet. Anyone recommend a course of action?

Also, I was taking a look at the oil pan he bought. It's a used pan. On the side where the oil thermostat is bolted on the current pan, it instead has a cover with two hex bolts. I removed that cover off the side of the new pan, obviously the new torx bolts we bought work in there just fine. I just wanted to confirm whether or not the oil thermostat can now be bolted into that place without any issues.

We currently have the motor mount out because the original motor mount was actually ripped in half. The new one is ready to go in but I'm waiting because it gives me more room to work on those stripped bolts.

So, if anyone has any insight on how to extract those stripped bolts, defintiely let me know.

 

Well if all else fails because the pan is bad drill the heads off the old ones.
Yes the cooler should bolt up to the new pan fine.

 

I have had two pans side by side, Turbo and non turbo...they are the same whether you use the plate or the oil cooler

 

Alright, that's great to know. It's only those three bolts on the oil cooler that are holding the pan up currently. I just need to figure out a way to drill them out. Does anyone know if that cooler shroud is threaded itself or will the new bolts thread only into the pan? I just need to know so I can figure out my course of action for removing the damn things.

That, and I need to figure out the locations for all of the weird little gaskets and o-rings that came with the "gasket kit" my friend ordered.

Thanks a lot for the help so far everyone.

 

The pan is threaded.
You will not use all the o-rings from the kit though.

 

If its not too late dont buy the gasket kit from the dealer. All you need is three o-ring seals and the oil cooler gasket. Two are visible, you can see where they go, the third is for the oil sump then the gasket is obvious as well. The dealer kit comes with many gaskets and duplicates you dont need.

 

But some can be used later. It comes with the turbo return line o-rings and gaskets well actually 2 sets.

 

If you can get a cutoff disk on a grinder in there to cut the bolt heads off this is quick and almost painless. I had to do this on my water Tstat cover and in no time I had the cover off so I could remove housing from the head( I had to get the head off quickly) The studs that are left can be sprayed with blaster repeatedly and then heat the IM section (lower block ) with a torch( the aluminum !! not the stud). Aluminum has a much higher coefficent of expansion than the steel bolt and you have to use this to your advantage. So the heat goes to the block and not to the stud. Really good vise grips( I mean really good, original made the USA type) and use all you can to clamp the stud. Don't just try to turn out, try to turn in also but not far. heat and spray with blaster. Be careful blaster flames up. Good luck.... I know this part really sucks