[mrmad]

Hello, new member here. I'm replacing the head gasket on a friend's 94 automatic Sentra with a GA16DE engine. Of all things I'm stuck on is the oil pan clearing the flywheel plate between the engine and transmission. Because the two studs hang down on that side of the pan and the plate covering the flywheel is in line with edge of the pan, I can't seem to get it off. I've tried bending the plate a little with a large screwdriver but I can't seem to bend it enough to get the oil pan off.

Is there a trick to this that I'm missing? I'm used to working on Honda's and the flywheel plate on the ones I've worked on is removable with a few bolts. The one on this Nissan is held in place between the engine a tranny, so it isn't coming off unless I pull the transmission, which I seriously do not want to do just to get the oil pan off.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[greenbean699]

take the crank pulley off first, this should give you enough room to slide the oil pan down.
ive never had a big problem.

 

[mrmad]

Thanks for the reply, the answer was alot of persuasion. I had to bend the plate more to get the pan to squeeze by. Should be fun getting back on.

 

[Platinum_Racing]

I got the head off the motor with the engine in the car. Just support the engine when you take the mount off, and remove the timing cover bolts before anything else. If you've got a bit of finesse, (And small hands) this will save you tons of time in the long run.

P.S. don't forget about that brace that goes from the block to the intake manifold. Since you already have the motor out no doubt you see the one I mean, but it gave me a bunch of trouble before I noticed it was there...