So... I decided to drain my oil, and take off all the bolts off the oil pan. The problem is, the oil pan is still stuck to the bottom of the engine. I tried taking a blade to the surrounding areas, but it's not doing much. Anyone know the secret?

Would like to get the greddy oil pan on tonight :)

hmmm, just beat it with a mallet?

Got a Spackle blade around? I looked at the old Oil pan TSB and there was no trick mentioned on oil pan removal.
http://www.finishlineperformance.com/rx8/docs/pdf/01-013-04-1341.pdf

There's not a lot of space, I don't want to damage the engine by using a screwdriver....

The TSB says "c. Separate the oil pan from the engine."

heh

Mazda has a special tool, but essentially you just use the fattest chisel you can find and point the flat "cutting" surface towards the pan and tap it with a mallet, not splitting the joint, just weakening it.
Go all the way around once or twice and it will practically fall off after that.
The FSM shows you how to do it.

This is what MM is refering to.

Yep. Its basically a hard plastic piece of triangle stock on a handle.

ok, I managed to get it off using an old butterknife (real flat) that I hammered into the sealant at an angle till the pan popped off. I worked only on the driver side of the engine, because the front and rear had no access due to the cross bars, and the pass side had stuff in the way. Once one side was fully weakened, It started to move, and I slowly pulled it down.

I then took out all the interior parts, except for the oil sensor - which I don't immediately see a way to remove...

Does the sensor just pop off?

here's the part I am having trouble removing:

ok, got the sensor off by using a screwdriver from the inside of the pan, and wedging between the sensor and the pan to pull the sensor into the pan. It's just got a rubber seal holding it in place.

almost everything went well... i have one bolt that won't go in more than half way....

besides that, it looks good, will let it sit overnight before i add oil and check for leaks.

almost everything went well... i have one bolt that won't go in more than half way....

.


You have to make sure you remove all the sealant from the housings...if there is sealant in the holes....you can actually break them

For anyone else taking the oil pan off in the future:

First of all, use a DEAD BLOW hammer. Also, a thick-bladed putty knife is what I use.

You should always hammer the chisel in between the oil pan and an IRON housing. You can damage the aluminum housings if you hammer it in between them.

The best, and quickest way to remove the oil pan:

Go to the exhaust side of the engine, hammer chisel in between the oil pan and the front iron. Wiggle it a bit, and tap the oil pan with the hammer, away from any sensors.

Then go to the opposite side of the engine, and now hammer the chisel in between the oil pan and the rear iron. Now, tap the oil pan(with the chisel still in place), and the sealant/gasket should release.

You have to make sure you remove all the sealant from the housings...if there is sealant in the holes....you can actually break them

It looks clear, I can jam a screwdriver and a small scraper into the hole and it is empty. I measured how deep I can place the screwdriver in, and it matches up with the length of the screw... I think the thread inside has gunk on it or something of that nature. It threads in, but halfway down gets real difficult to turn. I haven't forced it.

I just dumped 3 quarts of oil in the car, I see no leaks, but I don't know if 3 quarts has filled the pan up high enough that this would be a valid test. I'll head over to the automotive store today to buy more oil.

final pics (I'm too lazy to resize it for this forum):

http://ircimages.com/?281278
http://ircimages.com/?281277
http://ircimages.com/?281280

You should get a tap to fit the thread, and tap out the hole.

ok, got the sensor off by using a screwdriver from the inside of the pan, and wedging between the sensor and the pan to pull the sensor into the pan. It's just got a rubber seal holding it in place.


Actually it has a c-clip holding it in place, after which removing it allows the sensor to be popped out of the rubber seal. It's not really clear if you removed the clip first or not?

yeah, first thing I did was pull the little silver clip, then the large C clip. But once they were off, I didn't know how the sensor was supposed to be removed. I tugged it out and it didn't budge, but pulling it out from the inside of the pan worked well :)