Just wondering if any one has removed an oil pan on a 1997 3.1, I just looked at the steps on Autozone ther are over 20 steps and it looks like the right front suspension will have to be removed

I thought you could get it off with out, but i was thinking about the 3.3L(it is an easy one).

So ya you will hav to take most of that stuff off/loose.
The engine to trans brace is a pita !
Some of the blots are behind the starter(the ones that go in the sides of the pan) :shakehead

Make sure you use jack stands, if you dont hav a lift that is.

I thought you could get it off with out, but i was thinking about the 3.3L(it is an easy one).

So ya you will hav to take most of that stuff off/loose.
The engine to trans brace is a pita !
Some of the blots are behind the starter(the ones that go in the sides of the pan) :shakehead

Make sure you use jack stands, if you dont hav a lift that is.


The Job looks much bigger then I can handle, I hate working under a car. Just one other question when you loosed stuff under there is there a chance that the trans or engine drop "I like my face in one piece"

it just might fall down if its not braced properly with jack stands.

Especially when the motor mount and trans-to-engine brace is removed.

The 3.4s arent much easier :rolleyes:

Can anyone direct me to a site that may have photos on the steps of removing the oil pan. I need to get the sucker off in order to pull out one of the pistons and replace the rings

So why do you think that just that one pistons rings are bad?
IMO if you are going to do all that work for just one,
you might as well replace the others, while you are in there.
Plastic gauging the rods bearings, and mains, just to see how thier tolerances are.

The zone is the only one I know thats Free.
They should hav pics for the piston removal parts, try checking through thiers.

Thier are many online manuals that are better but cost some $$.

http://www.chiltonsonline.com/

http://www.eautorepair.net/?gclid=CLbh5KGb9IcCFQ4NSAodPCdRwg

I was hoping for a miracle, I inserted a feller gauge between the piston and cylinder wall to feel the piston ring and sure enough I could feel the ring and there were no gaps between the piston ring and the cylinder wall “eliminating the collapsed ring theory” I will have to assume that a broken ring is the likely cause. The next step would be a horror story over 20 items will have to be removed just to get at the oil pan.

Good Luck !

I hate been defeated but this time I was crushed like a wine grape. It it even makes it worse when you know what the problem is and there wast not much of an option for me to fix it. It wasn't possible for me to drop the oil pan and pull the dam piston out and replace the rings. I put the engine back togethr with new gaskets and guess what same old 30 psi and a horrible mis-balance at idle. I guess I will sell it as is for a fraction of what I could have sold for with a nice running engine. Thank you all for your input.

it really isnt that bad of a task to remove that pan.

I'd rather do that pan then to remove the heads/intake off a 3.4 to replace gaskets.