Loose oil pan bolts
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 174
Likes: 51
Loose oil pan bolts
Went for oil change before she goes into storage and the mechanic who replaced the lower pan gasket last summer remembered my car and decided to retorque the bolts and found most of them loose. He told me to bring the car back next spring and he will check the bolts again. Could this have happened by vibration? Thanks to all. BTW this guy is a real good mechanic and many swear by him.
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Moved to C5 Tech, but the bolts should not come loose by vibration. I never had that problem with any of the three C5s I had.
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Joined: Oct 2004
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 174
Likes: 51
Wow, thank you for your reply. If this mechanic did forget to tighten the bolts when doing the gasket l wonder why he would admit that the bolts were loose. He should of tightened them on the down low and not mention it to me. Makes me wonder really. Next spring l will get the bolts looked at and l will look for a new mechanic because this incompetence scares me.Thanks again.
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,420
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From: CSRA, SC
Those bolts have a very low torque spec and can easily be stripped out. Im guessing the grease monkey used his calibrated torque fingers to tighten them to spec with his "years of experience" and blew the threads out. Every time he sees the car its weeping because the bolt holes are reamed out so he "tightens" them some more which of course is completely ineffective. Just my theory since other possibilities are pretty unlikely.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,857
Likes: 4,655
Those bolts have a very low torque spec and can easily be stripped out. Im guessing the grease monkey used his calibrated torque fingers to tighten them to spec with his "years of experience" and blew the threads out. Every time he sees the car its weeping because the bolt holes are reamed out so he "tightens" them some more which of course is completely ineffective. Just my theory since other possibilities are pretty unlikely.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,298
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From: Western NY
THAT'S my line!!! 
FWIW, 2-3 years ago, I began to notice that my oil pan was "wet". No drips, at that point, but covered in a film of oil. I checked the shop manual for the torque spec, then broke out the torque wrench. I found that ALL of the lower oil pan bolts weren't tight to spec.....
FWIW, 2-3 years ago, I began to notice that my oil pan was "wet". No drips, at that point, but covered in a film of oil. I checked the shop manual for the torque spec, then broke out the torque wrench. I found that ALL of the lower oil pan bolts weren't tight to spec.....
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 5,971
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THAT'S my line!!!
FWIW, 2-3 years ago, I began to notice that my oil pan was "wet". No drips, at that point, but covered in a film of oil. I checked the shop manual for the torque spec, then broke out the torque wrench. I found that ALL of the lower oil pan bolts weren't tight to spec.....
FWIW, 2-3 years ago, I began to notice that my oil pan was "wet". No drips, at that point, but covered in a film of oil. I checked the shop manual for the torque spec, then broke out the torque wrench. I found that ALL of the lower oil pan bolts weren't tight to spec.....
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