Oil pan gasket replacement.

[gr8scott]

I know this varies from place to place, but generally speaking about  what should I expect to pay for this service?

[vermontboy]

Would need to know year, make, model and what motor to even venture a guess. Your location would also have an impact.

[maok]

Why not make your own from flat piece of cork?

[Rusty_OToole]

Somewhere between $100 and $10000. Depending on what car, where you are, who does the job etc.

[46 woodie]

As others have suggested, telling us what car you are talking about might get you in the ballpark. Every car is different, some have splash pans that need to come out and some cars you even need to jack up the engine to get the pan off, there all different.

[Guest]

Also would be good to know mileage of the vehicle and if the pan had been off before.  The first time I took my pan off it took three hours, the next time it took twenty minutes.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

23 hours ago, gr8scott said:

I know this varies from place to place, but generally speaking about  what should I expect to pay for this service?

 

 Lawn mower or Semi?.  Come on , scott, you can do better.

 

  Ben

[54vicky]

let your fingers do the walking and phone around(that strange instrument with  the buttons)someone in your area can be more precise than someone hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

[Frank DuVal]

Buttons? Mine has a DIAL! Keep it on the desk to show the young employees how it used to be.....👍

 

I think Rusty nailed the price range.

[John_Mereness]

Lot's of skilled advice on this forum (that are asking for details and your responsiveness for a reason).   That being said, though, when I need a gasket I generally call Olsen's  https://www.olsonsgaskets.com/

Edited March 30, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

I should think a Model A with solid axle and no crossmember under the engine would be easy and cheap to do, as the gaskets are available and not expensive. A more modern car where you have to jack up the engine would run into more labor, an exotic where parts are not available and you have to cut the gasket by hand would run up the labor charge. I suppose something like a Rolls Royce, or maybe a  rear engine Ferrari or Lamborghini V12 where you have to pull the engine to get at the gasket would be most expensive. Does anyone have a candidate for the most difficult, labor intensive and expensive car to change a pan gasket on? Maybe it would be an outlier like a Porsche 917 that does not have an oil pan as such, where you have to tear down the engine and split the cases to cure an oil leak?

 

What would be the most expensive oil pan gasket to replace?

Edited March 30, 2019 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

6 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said:

 

What would be the most expensive oil pan gasket to replace?

I have spent a whole $125.00 for a gasket and most I have bought are around $40-65 (and usually do myself so it is just a lot of time and patience - had to remove tie rods, do some jacking of engine up, example: a RR has umpteen bolts in it, and ...).

[Rusty_OToole]

That is the cheap option. I am after the most expensive. For example paying an exotic car garage $200 an hour X a couple of days labor to re and re an engine and replace the gasket. What is the most expensive to replace? I am beginning to think my estimate of $10,000 may be a little high.

[vermontboy]

Just changing the oil on a Bugatti Veyron sets you back aroun $20,000 and entails 27 hours of labor - there are 16 drain plugs .... one for Ripley's - this from a quick google search 

[60FlatTop]

If you got a price, how much was the estimate. If you didn't get a price, or even if you did, how much do you think it should cost?

 

Never tell a mechanic "Replace the oil pan gasket" say "Fix the oil leak". There is a big difference.

 

One of my cars has a seal on the oil cooled alternator that could appear to be a pan leak.

Bernie

[Matt Harwood]

16 minutes ago, vermontboy said:

Just changing the oil on a Bugatti Veyron sets you back aroun $20,000 and entails 27 hours of labor - there are 16 drain plugs .... one for Ripley's - this from a quick google search 

 

It'll be great when those are, say, 30 years old and sitting around like old Rolls-Royces: too expensive for even Bill Gates to maintain. How many of those are already sitting unused because of deferred maintenance that costs too much to be done?

[Rusty_OToole]

1 hour ago, vermontboy said:

Just changing the oil on a Bugatti Veyron sets you back aroun $20,000 and entails 27 hours of labor - there are 16 drain plugs .... one for Ripley's - this from a quick google search 

OK maybe $10,000 for a pan gasket is low.

[gr8scott]

My bad,  I just presumed the only car we talk about here is the Reatta. In any case I got the job done last month for $280.

 

And thanks for the tip, " Never tell a mechanic 'Replace the oil pan gasket' say  'Fix the oil leak". There is a big difference.

•  

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, gr8scott said:

My bad,  I just presumed the only car we talk about here is the Reatta.

Further down the page is where your thought would have been correct.  https://forums.aaca.org/forum/11-buick-reatta/

Glad you got it fixed okay.

[keithb7]

My 1953 Chrysler. Mahale oil pan gasket from Rock Auto. $12. 

Labor free. Did it myself.  Cleaned all sludge out if pan and painted it. Now running modern detergent oil. This example is the polar opposite of the Exotic Sport car scenario.