Transmission pan question (no stupid ?'s, right?)

Leaking around the transmission pan seal, so upon re-removal, I can see & feel that there are, let's say, reversed/raised dimples at the bolt holes. Two oil changes ago (7yrs?) I got a filter & rubber gasket kit. Never occurred to me to question why there was no gasket on the pan. I mean after all, Amazon stated this kit fit my truck, so....

Anyway, it did the trick all these years. Then I had to "drop" the transmission in January. Did what I needed with the help of @gearcruncher & upon reinstall, I bought the same kit. (In his defense, we never talked pan flanges or gaskets.) My guess is the first rubber one got all settled in & then with the bolt holes raised, the second one wouldn't seal.

So, my not a stupid question - Is my understanding correct that the pan flange should be & needs to be absolutely flat? I believe I've seen it referenced on here that if you put it on a flat surface there should be no gaps. However, this was pertaining to defects due to pan removal. With mine being at many of the bolt holes, is that enough to warrant a new pan or is it possible to work with it?

 

The pan surface should be flat. Can you put the pan upside down on a flat surface, then take and beat raised areas flat?

 

The thing is, the pan flange is kind of thin.
And when installing the pan, if you get the bolts too tight, it will “bend” the bolt holes in at the gasket.
Each time you remove and install the pan, the holes get a bit more “bent”.

A lot of guys go by feel on the pan bolts.
Snug is good. Tightening it more doesn’t make it seal any better.
It only deforms the pan more.

Anyways, do your best to “flatten” the pan.
And watch it when you reinstall it. Try not to sink the bolts in to much and bend the pan.

 

so this is a bolt hole on top of the flange. You can see the gaps around it. So using your method, would it be better to put something flat on top of the pan & go at it that way? Or does that somehow compromise the pan?

 

I am a torque wrench user. Did them to 60in/lb per my book. So are you suggesting I don’t use that?

Anyway, not that I want to fork out the bucks, but now we’re talking another 30.00 (at least) in atf, plus gasket. Toyota’s got the 25% off/free ship deal going on. Today’s the last day. Before I did that though, I wanted to see if there’s anything I could try.

 

I thought the FSM said to use RTV / FIPG?
A gasket is easier to use, but RTV seals it up in all the nooks and crannies.

Maybe use the gasket and a dap of RTV at the bolt holes?

 

I always used rtv , but don’t go crazy with it, more isn’t necessarily a better seal

 

100% agree. Forget those rubber/cork/synthetic whatever gaskets. Go with the goop.

Toyota Orange (00295-01281)

 

Ok. I’ll see what I can do.

At this point though, once the pan is compromised, does that really work?
Totally agree if I was to end up buying a new one….

 

I’d say try to flatten it, run a straight edge and make a choice on whether it’s an acceptable tolerance or not. You can also circle the bolt holes with goop

 

My 2 cents - since the pan is already "compromised" don't waste your time trying to tweak it back into service. I'm looking at the time involved with trying to flatten it out, reassembling, etc. Just order a new pan, FIPG it and call it done. You won't have to worry about dropping the pan for years to come.

Just how I see it. Time is valuable and I'd rather do it right the first time.

 

This will help you out with the pan. It's nice and solid with better hardware for clamping for this issue.
https://www.atfspeed.com/billet-pan-stiffener.html

 

I ended up buying a new one. 125.00 after the discount including free shipping. On the original, I’d say, 16 out of the 19 bolt holes had varying degrees of damage.

thank you though….

& thank you to everyone else for the guidance….

 

Late to the party here,,,, but I've lived through all these changes since the 50's and 60's till now,,, all the pans and valve covers "dempled" in and cut the gaskets. So the trick was or what I used was to lay a 2x6 or bigger on edge, take the valve cover or pan and set on the edge of the board flange UP, this is for support and straight edge effect, take a ball pein hammer and lightly massage the demples back down with the ball end of the hammer, I even took them a smidge below so that it had some leway to function and not cut the gasket, if that's what you decide to use, or RTV or a combo of both.

 

I’m late too, but Permatex 90 minute or 1 minute The Right Stuff, which I’m pretty sure is a more readily available version of the Toyota FIPG, would’ve made easy work of that.

We’ve sealed up holes/cracks in oil pans on our race cars with it since those double kicker SBC pans aren’t cheap. Use it and the one minute version for pretty much everything on the race car that doesn’t have a solid reusable gasket. From oil pans, hub seals, cracks, water necks, water pumps, etc. It’s even solely what’s holding my homemade cold air box to my breather base on my dirt track car. The stuff is easy to remove with a scotch lock on a die grinder when you take the pan down the next time. That or a razor blade. I swear by it now.

The strengtheners that ToyRyd04 mentioned are similar we use on the oil pans on our SBCs too.

Pulldo has a great method for fixing your current one as well although I’m 99% positive the right stuff would’ve been your cheapest and easiest fix without having to do any work to the pan.

 

i think your taco will absolutely Love that new pan!
what a deal you got on that part

 

I also finally broke down & got the weather-strips for over the doors. I couldn't find any aftermarket for those.

 

FYI I have a thread on this too and had success in pounding my pan bolt holes flat with the flat side of a 8oz ball peen hammer and bending the flanges straight and level with pliers. There are no A340E pans on the market so I had no choice.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-transmission-pan.846516/page-2#post-30303639

 

So, like a dumbass, it didn't occur to me to remove the sway bar prior to reinstall. The 1st time I changed it back when, it was not an issue because I used a gasket, which I also used last time, however I had the sway bar off because I had "dropped" the transmission. Anyway, this time what with using the RTV, it was a challenge getting the pan on whilst clearing the filter. When I 1st noticed this I backed off & cleaned the spot off the filter. I was more careful the 2nd time, however can not guarantee I did not get any on it again. Had it not been the 90 minute stuff, I would have removed the sway bar right then & there. Opinions? Should I redo? Has anyone done this & been ok?

See next post....

 

Ok. I'm realizing that maybe, just maybe, that was indeed a dumb question & that I should redo.... Might have even realized that when I was asking. Just looking for someone to let me off the hook....