Stuck Oil Pan...among Other Things

[la_gator]

I am a new user, and I have to say, this is probably one of the more useful forums I've seen. Most have ranting and raving, but this has some real substance.

That being said, I am a fairly recent owner of a 97 es300 w/ now 190k miles. This weekend I tried to be a good owner and start the update process. The first thing I attempted was changing the oil pan gasket since I was changing the oil anyway. I unbolted all of the 9mm bolts, and ta-dah, the pan wouldnt budge an inch. I tried using a normal hammer very lightly against a wooden block to get it jarred loose. No dice. From looking at the screws I can tell the gasket material (grey???) has hardened slightly. Any ideas on how to get this thing loose? I dont want to bang my pan up (plus there are female nuts attached to screws that come through the pan). My next after-work task is to buy a rubber mallet and go to town.....

One more side note: I used SeaFoam through the intake, in the gas, and in the oil for a few miles before change this weekend and am experiencing great results.

[vstolyarov]

Go to homedepot and buy a thin edge scraper, work your way around the grey gasket until you reach inside the pan, then work around, the gasket is like glue you got to break through it to get it off.

[la_gator]

Go to homedepot and buy a thin edge scraper, work your way around the grey gasket until you reach inside the pan, then work around, the gasket is like glue you got to break through it to get it off.

Thanks, I will try that. I wish I would have checked back before I went to home de-pot to buy my rubber weapon. But, I didnt use it yet. I was going to use a thin razor blade before, but I didn't want to scrape the pan.