Cost to replace oil pan gasket?

I know what's involved and how much a pain it is. The car is a 2003 Seville STS. Curious to see how much people are being charged for the repair. I expected around $1000 but my dealer called and just told me $1800. This is NOT for a half case reseal either, JUST the PAN.

I would just add old but its bad enough that while driving there is constant blow back onto the exhaust and it makes the car (and inside) smell of oil.

Not something I want to subject my mother to (its her car)

Oil pan shouldn't be blowing back like that its not under pressure. Are you sure just not the OP sender? Those bastards notorious for going out. If is the pan and having done have them do half case whike at it and rear seal. Labor will be about the same anyways.

Re: Cost tor replace Oil Pan Gasket?

Positive. I looked at it myself before I took it to the dealer to ensure it wasn't half case as well. Its leaking bad enough that the oil soaks the whole pan and as you drive it is flung back to the exhaust.

Well that sucks.. So much for easy fix.
That price does sound awful high to me also.

Re: Cost tor replace Oil Pan Gasket?

I thought so... Im going to call and try and get them down. I know there is very little parts cost for this (just RTV and whatever should be replaced while its out) but book time of 14 hours at 80 per hour comes to $1120...

I'd be taking somewhere besides a dealer also.

Re: Cost tor replace Oil Pan Gasket?

Pretty expensive job to trust elsewhere ya know?

Big job but not headgaskets so any decent shop should be able to handle.

That 14 hours of labor includes transmission removal and install - the left bank exhaust crossunder pipe thing .............., and that requires a lot of suspension/axle removal.

EDIT: The Alldata for my 2002 Seville shows labor time as 13.7 hours.

But a good Mom&Pop shop with the proper engine suspension jig should be able to do the job. It's not rocket science, just damned tedious disassembly, repair, assembly.

I helped (a little bit) my neighbor, Charlie The Transmission Man, do an oil pan reseal on a 2000 Seville about 5 years ago. It is NOT something I would attempt now. In any event, we used Permatex RTV Gray and that car today is dry as a bone, oil leak-wise. We had cleaned the pan flange/groove and the halfcase flange with lacquer thinner. The job took us 2 full days.

Doesn't look like something I want to get involved in I was just more questioning the cost.

All Data listed the book time at 13.1 hours even at $100 per hour that's 1300... not 1800...?'

Im POSITIVE in what he told me, this was for the oil pan gasket ONLY not the rear main (which I would have done as that's maybe another 1 hour) nor for the half case (which isn't leaking per them).

rodnok01 said:

Oil pan shouldn't be blowing back like that its not under pressure. Are you sure just not the OP sender?

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I think he means it is leaking and blowing back from the air flow under the car while in motion.

Ranger said:

I think he means it is leaking and blowing back from the air flow under the car while in motion.

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Correct

Got it back today. Picked it up late so the service dept has left. Was looking over the bill though. I was charged $300 in parts for J-42385 Insert ($15 per and 20 were replaced). If memory serves me right that's timeserts for HEADGASKET replacement. What else could of stripped out which had the same thread pitch and size as head bolts and for there to of needed 20 of them? Ideas?

1BadCadSTS said:

Got it back today. Picked it up late so the service dept has left. Was looking over the bill though. I was charged $300 in parts for J-42385 Insert ($15 per and 20 were replaced). If memory serves me right that's timeserts for HEADGASKET replacement. What else could of stripped out which had the same thread pitch and size as head bolts and for there to of needed 20 of them? Ideas?

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Nothing. They charged you for Timeserts. I'd be finding out why. If all they did was an oil pan gasket, your most likely being ripped off.

Caddy-EaRL said:

Nothing. They charged you for Timeserts. I'd be finding out why. If all they did was an oil pan gasket, your most likely being ripped off.

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From the parts list they also replaced the rear main the oil manifold assembly as well as timing cover gaskets. I'm just curious how 20 certs would of been needed.

In that case, I'm guessing they inserted all of the bearing girdle bolt holes.

drewsdeville said:

In that case, I'm guessing they inserted all of the bearing girdle bolt holes.

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If that's the case then they had to remove the lower case half to drill and tap the block and I'm not sure you can do that with the crankshaft still in place. Something doesn't sound right here.

samert said:

If that's the case then they had to remove the lower case half to drill and tap the block and I'm not sure you can do that with the crankshaft still in place. Something doesn't sound right here.

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Well, I assumed they had the lower case half off if they replaced the manifold as posted in #16...

I don't see why drilling/tapping the mains with the crank installed wouldn't be possible. Maybe not a recommended shortcut, but probably doable.

Just a guess, but it sounds to me like there was a miscommunication or misunderstanding and the bottom end was resealed rather than just the oil pan. The OP might be able to tell with careful inspection.