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Russ Wolfe wrote: > Make sure the surface of the pan is flat, with no bumps or lumps. They > >have a tendence to get over tightened and distorted. If you have a cork >gasket, don't use any sealer. If the gasket is shrunk, so the holes >don't line up, soak it in warm water. If it is a paper gasket, use a >little Aviation Permatex to seal it. The paper gaskets dont have the >compressibility <sp> of the cork ones. >I can't over stress it enough, Don't over tighten the bolts. > > > I recall changing the tranny fluid on my former '98 Dodge Stratus. The spec called for an unimagineable 160 lb-ft of tourque on the pan bolts. I couldn't for the life of me understand why. As I was doing the job, I figured out why. While my kit came with a pan gasket and filter, what it came with from the factory was the pan siliconed on to the case, and nothing else. I very gently had to pry the pan off the case, and of course, wouldn't you know it, it broke loose spectacularly instead of gradually, splashing transmission fluid in my face, my eyes (I was wearing safety glasses but it ran down my forehead) and my hair. Luckily the fluid was only warm and not hot. Needless to say, the new gasket went on with much less torque- my rule of thumb has always been to either follow the torque specification (assuming it had a cork gasket in mind) or just tighten down the bolts until the cork nearly imperceptably starts to react to the pan tightening on it- any more than that and you'll crack the cork and you start over again. I also step through the tightening process, doing every other bolt in a diagonal circle to the point of contact, and then applying an equal turn (usually one turn) to every other bolt in the same succession, until satisfied. I've used aviation permatex or gasketing shellac even on cork gaskets. Is this actually harmful, or is it just a belts and suspenders operation (and of course, making the job of removing the gasket messier in the future?) I certainly know not to use it on VW valve covers. Back in the day, I used to use Fel-Pro neoprene gaskets on valve covers. I liked their performance a little better than cork, and they could take a little extra tightening. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~