Oil Pan Leak

400ke30 · Sep 4th, 2003, 04:44 PM

My aunt has a 98 Max and she recently had the oil pan and gasket replaced because it was leaking. Well now, it's leaking again. She can't take it back to the shop the did the work because they went out of business. Is there something that can easily go wrong when changing the pan or is there another problem?

Also, how easy is it for someone that has never worked on a Nissan to change the oil pan?

thanks

***Jeff*** · Sep 5th, 2003, 03:47 PM

Its not difficult to change one out...

...the shop that did it could have used the old gasket...or maybe didn't clean off the pan edges itself and that caused another leak. Maybe they didn't seal it well enough...

Can you tell it is actually leaking from the pan seal and not further up?

Buy a Hayne's Manual...it will save you money as a lot of Maxima issues can be handled by yourself...the manual will let you know if its too difficult.

400ke30 · Sep 6th, 2003, 11:27 AM

I just bought the haynes manual. There is a huge difference in the amount of labor for cars with SOHC or DOHC.
Does anyone know if the SE came with a SOHC or a DOHC?

BlueBOB · Sep 9th, 2003, 11:09 AM

all 4th gen maximas and I believe all the 3rd gen max's are DOHC.

if you look at the engine code... ie VQ30DE for the 4th gen max, the D represents DOHC.

hope that helps...

**HNE** · Sep 13th, 2003, 12:11 PM

Are you sure its leaky from the gasket around the pan? There is an inherent problem with Oil Pressure Sending units in Maximas. They often begin to leak on high mileage cars. It's not a major problem. Mine was leaking, but the part cost me $18 from Courtesy, and no more leak. I'm not saying that what your problem is, but you might want to look a little closer at it.

400ke30 · Sep 13th, 2003, 01:45 PM

My aunt told me it was leaking from the oil pan. but when I get the car up on jack stands I will do my own investigating to make sure it isn't leaking from another location. thanks for the reply