Need to replace the oil pan gasket on this vehicle. All the bolts are accesible and nothing needs to be moved out of the way to complete this job. Is it customary to put a little loctite on the bolts when torquing them down? Or just clean them up real good and torque them down?
Thread locker is not needed. A non hardening thread sealer can be used if you have some concern for the bolts working loose. An oil pan leak on the 3.8 engine seems rare. Has the pan been damaged?
I agree with @RodKnox
Here’s something else I would do:
Chase all the bolts and bolt holes
If there’s any old sealant, rtv, etc. on the threads and you try to torque the bolts down, they may break.
I assume your oil pan is made of stamped steel (like most). If so…one good thing to do is get a hammer and small anvil and hammer out the holes to make sure they are all straight and even. Sometimes with stamped steel the holes end up a little protruding. This can possibly cause the pan to leak.
Oil pan on 3800 is aluminium. If there is any distortion around bolt holes the surface should be dressed and cleaned Gasket sealer will suffice for small imperfections.
You should also be absolutely sure the oil pan gasket is the source of the leak. There are several things that could leak and lead one to believe it’s the oil pan. Oil pressure sending unit, rear main seal, front crank seal, oil filter flange gasket, etc.
In some cases a clogged PCV will pressure up the crankcase and force oil leaks so check the PCV first.
Should be an easy job but torque the bolts in the proper alternate sequence.