The oil pan gasket on my 302/351w (5.0/5.8 litre) Bronco is leaking. Can I replace it without pulling the engine?
The short answer is yes. Many have opted to unbolt and jack up the engine as far as possible without damaging things. The pan will not come out completely and installing the new gasket requires a good deal of patience and some good manual dexterity. The author has done this twice with a 100% success rate. A one-piece gasket is used and carefully threaded into place. The claim has been made that with a little extra care, the gasket can be left in one piece and threaded under the oil sump tube in the bottom of the pan and then installed. The gasket can also be cut at one point (author prefers the section that runs under the front main bearing cap) and then the cut sealed with a small amount of RTV sealer before the pan is bolted in place. Either way takes time and patience but does NOT require pulling the engine from the truck.
