I replaced this gasket with a genuine Jaguar part about 11,000 miles ago (about a year ago) and the leak has now returned. I have put the car on the lift and looked around to make sure that it wasn't the upper oil pan gasket going south and dripping but it is not. It is clearly the lower pan gasket. I am quite meticulous about cleaning, torquing sequence and values and it just does not make sense. I wonder if anyone has insight on this?

I am planning on carefully cleaning the passage where the gasket sits with a soft dremel brush wheel, installing a new gasket and see if that helps.

Oh, and I did find a cheaper alternative to the Jaguar gasket:

 

Nice find on that gasket, Lagonia. It inspired me to search Victor Reinz and came up with this source at an even lower price!

2004 Jaguar XJ-Type Engine Parts at CARiD.com


Do you have experience with Victor Reinz gaskets?

Cheers,

Don

 

Nice find! No experience with Victor Reinz gaskets other than the oil pan gasket that I am installing. It looks *identical* to the Jaguar one that I am replacing.

Unfortunately, I had a *major* setback last night. I could not get one of the pan bolts to torque to around 15 Nm (about 11 ft.lbs or roughly 105 in.lbs) as the manual states and I broke it off. I really did not think I applied any undue force. I was using my puny 1/4" torque wrench. Now I have to extract the stud, hopefully intact and clean the female threads assuming there is no further damage.

 

That's a bummer, Lagonia. Please keep us informed.

Cheers,

Don

 

I lucked out big time. It looked like I would have to drill out the pan bolt stud and re-thread the bolt opening. Before starting, however, I went down to my local AutoZone and purchased a set of left-handed drill bits. If I was going to drill this s**t out, might as well use left handed drill bits to up my chances of getting the stud out. I started with the 5/64" bit and was getting absolutely nowhere. I had visions of pulling the engi ne out and sourcing an upper oil pan.

I went to the higher bit size, 7/64" and started working it and lo and behold it did grab the stud and turned it. I then proceeded to work it enough to where the stud was partially out of the cavity and using pliers I unscrewed it! Happy Moment!

I proceded to use a thread chaser (M6-1.0) and cleaned all the cavities. They *all* had crud in them. I cleaned and polished all the bolts, used a bit of High Tack on the pan in addition to the new gasket for added sealing (or so I am thinking) and every bolt torqued perfectly without issues. That was a close call.






Busted pan bolt





Cleaning the threads out of the lower pan bolt cavities

 

My engine is the V6 3 litre, and my local Jaguar indie shop told me the oil sump gasket was starting to seep oil but would be OK until the next service. Thing is, being an old Jaguar man, every other jaguar I ever had leaked oil and quite badly in modern terms. Yet everybody told me "Oh they all do that, you just have to clean up your driveway, or use a drip tray". So this year, when I take it in, I shall ask to see this "seepage" before authorising the extra £300 to fix it. I do agree, though, it is nice to have cars that don't drip all over the place. My only car that now does this is my MG Midget.

 

Well done, Lagonia!

I love your idea of using left-handed drill bits so the torque would encourage the broken screw to come outward instead of further tightening! I'm going to remember that!

Chasing the threads with the tap was a good idea to clean out any residual corrosion.

If you hadn't been able to get the pliers on the screw, were you planning to try an Easy Out or other type of screw extractor?

Cheers,

Don

 

Don,

Yes, that was the plan. I do have an assortment of screw / bolt extractors but my success rate has been pitiful in the past. The stud being an M6 size (skinny) would have made it so much harder.