I can see if I can get some more pictures, and better pictures tomorrow. I did have a power steering leak maybe 1-2 years ago. The clamps holding the tubes to the reservoir “got tired”. I was having to add in fluid every few weeks. So I put new clamps on and no longer had to add any more fluid. It’s possible, but given the length of time sense this leak happened, I think it might be something else? What else could it be? It’s on the side away from the transmission. On the right. Underneath the coolant, and PS. I don’t think I’m loosing any other fluids.
Interesting about the seeping. I’ll have to read that article!
Why do you think removing the studs would be a problem?
These are simple low torque bolts. No reason to replace any. You could leave half of them out, omit the pan gasket and just slobber RTV all over the lip and it would seal fine.
Don’t do that, bits of stray RTV would get sucked into your oil pump. It’s ok if you use a gasket and go easy on it, but it’s not necessary.
If your oil level is not going down, why would you do this job at all? You might fix the tiny leak just by properly torquing all the bolts. Or (I’ve heard of this, but haven’t tried it) clean the join off really well and spray paint it.
The bolts are low torque. The biggest danger in this job is to damage the gasket by overtightening them.
The studs are NOT MEANT to be removed. They might be under very high torque. You could shear one off in the block; then you have a BIG problem.
It’s often difficult to remove studs without damaging the threads, too. And it’s possible (though I think shanonia is right) that there’s not even enough clearance to crank the studs out.
I read the article. Very interested. The picture below looks like mine! Strange that “seepage” is considered acceptable. I guess because it’s a very small leak, it’s considered acceptable, because it’s so little that it won’t make much of a difference. This is kind of odd.
Your right. I checked the official maintenance manual from Toyota, and the bolts and nuts are 80 inch pounds. So basically nothing.
I think there’s a typo in the diagram though. On my car there are 10 bolts and two studs with nuts. Not 8 bolts and two studs with nuts as shown in the maintenance manual. Interesting thing to note, is what you mentioned. That it doesn’t show the stud as coming out of the block, as if it’s not meant to be removed from the block and serviced. It doesn’t specify a torque to torque it down to. I however thought it was interested that the stud is sold as a separate part, as if it’s meant to be removed.
Leading me to believe that the stud is meant to be removed. Who know though. Might be better off not replacing it and just being safe. I did check online at some videos of someone doing this repair, and they removed the studs. Note that the video is of 2007-2017 version of the car, but the oil pan looks similar in shape. See 26:30 mark in the video below.
If the studs happen to come out along with the nuts, no problem, just treat it like a bolt. Maybe they are not highly torqued. But there is absolutely no reason to remove them. If they used a stud instead of a bolt, there was a reason, and the reason was not “Let’s see if we can trick some fool into trying to remove this stud”.
Well, maybe. Could be revenge for Hiroshima; don’t fall for it.
How’s that work? Can’t smell from here if the stud has male torx flanges, but my E sockets are not deepwells anyway. I usually use jam nuts; stud wrench only if I plan to throw the b***h away or am desperate. Most studs I see have no grip method at all, or something you can’t reach in practice and would probably strip off.
If there’s a new-to-me method here, I’m all ears. PITA cleaning the gasket from around the studs…
I wonder if those oil pans bolts might also be magnets? To stick to small slivers of steel that might come from engine wear, keep it in the pan. The drain plug is often a magnet.
Why do people use a metal razor to scrape aluminum blocks? Would it be better to use like a plastic trim tool that won’t scratch the block? I mean apparently using a razor works so why not? But if I can avoid scratching the aluminum then shouldn’t I?
Also for this car there’s already a gasket for the oil pan. But every video I see people are using RTV. Is RTV better than a premade gasket?
This ain’t a cylinder head. A visible but intangible scratch will not matter, and you will get neither if you’re careful. If you’re worried, use a gasket scraper or a glue scraper or whatever.
RTV will work if you’re careful, don’t overuse it, let it skin over before installation. But if you’re thinking of replacing the damn BOLTS, why wouldn’t you just spring for the gasket?
Way too much thinking going into this, and too much caution. In this situation, the less you do the better off you will be.
I just scrolled through this thread and I just don’t get it at all. Why bother to mess with this oil pan and bolts? There’s nothing going on to make that sort of job necessary and there are so many ways it can turn into a nightmare. Years ago I learned that if you go looking for trouble, you’ll find it.
