Thought I'd chronicle the tricks on removing the oil pan for my 1989 XJS V12 Convertible (LH). I read the ROM and many of the other great posts and videos, but found it wasn't so simple to figure it out. The end job was actually really easy, but figuring out what to do, took some time

First, getting the 1/2" bolts off was quite easy, except for one - you know, the one bolt that's right snug up in the corner...

Oil pan is removed at this point, but I'm pointing at the thing that makes it hard to get to the bolt (bolt hole just above). I used an old Taiwan 1/2 socket that was just thin enough to fir perfectly.

Once you've got all the bolts off, if you're lucky, the pan will be easy to pry off. In my case, the pan was nicely frozen. I tried using a stiff putty knife from the engine's front, but no go - just couldn't get any leverage. Started looking around and thinking about it - I happened to notice a hole between the body and catalyst on the driver side (LH) that I thought had just enough room to slide a wide fork crow bar in and get some leverage to break the pan away from the block. So, I went for it and it was just enough...

Oil pan is removed at this point, but this is the hole from the LH driver side I used between the body and catalyst to get a wide-fork pry bar in to get enough leverage to slowly break the pan away from the block - yes, it's about an 1" or so, but just enough...

Once I broke the seal, the rest was just getting the pan off - from taking the bolts off, you'll remember that one other special bolt that I think holds a fuel line bracket, but prevents the oil pan from just come straight-down. It also has a spacer that you've gotta get...


Oil pan is removed at this point, but be careful with this bracket as it holds a couple of (I think fuel lines) in place and has a spacer that you should grab.

Good to go, here's what my pan, gasket, and pan edges looked like. I mentioned the pan edges because I wanted to see where the leaks might have come from and make sure that the pan was not warped...


Just removed oil pan, looks pretty good on the inside, no metal shavings...


Oil pan - you can see the oil seeping...

Oil pan - you can see a little pool of oil there, so gotta make sure that's taken care of...


Here's the Taiwan 1/2" socket I used to get at the hard to get bolt on the oil pan, just for kicks...