Upper Oil Pan

[xxiiac]

Taking a shot in the dark here but alot of you out there seem to know everything bout these Lex's and I hope to find an (easy-doubtful)answer. My 1994 LS (Lexy) has 120k miles on it and has sprung alot of oil leaks. (I think this may be due to the synthetic oil that I have used?) Anyways, I have started to replace the problems where I have found oil leaks. I just did the valve covers and that stopped the leaks from the top of the engine. I still have lots of oil on the underside of the engine. I checked the areas with the car running and saw oil coming from the seals around the lower (#2) and upper (#1) oil pans. I removed the lower no sweat. My problem is with the upper. The manual makes it look easy like you just remove the 17 bolts and 2 nuts. However they do not show the cross member that is right below the back part of the upper pan, making the bolts inaccessible. This piece looks pretty sturdy and looks like its attached to the suspension. Is there any easy way to remove the upper oil pan? Do I have to remove this cross member? I have researched this site and cannot find any DIY's or instructions on this, so I believe that this is a b***h of a job to do. Has anyone removed the upper (#1) oil pan? Can anybody give me any ideas? I'm sure my rear seal is leaking too, but that looks like way to big of a job for me as I don't have a lift and removing the tranny may be beyond my expertise. I think my cam and crank seals are leaking as well but I think I can replace those when I do the timing belt. I'm stuck at the upper oil pan removal at this point, any help/instructions/info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all in advance.

[RDM]

Taking a shot in the dark here but alot of you out there seem to know everything bout these Lex's and I hope to find an (easy-doubtful)answer. My 1994 LS (Lexy) has 120k miles on it and has sprung alot of oil leaks. (I think this may be due to the synthetic oil that I have used?) Anyways, I have started to replace the problems where I have found oil leaks. I just did the valve covers and that stopped the leaks from the top of the engine. I still have lots of oil on the underside of the engine. I checked the areas with the car running and saw oil coming from the seals around the lower (#2) and upper (#1) oil pans. I removed the lower no sweat. My problem is with the upper. The manual makes it look easy like you just remove the 17 bolts and 2 nuts. However they do not show the cross member that is right below the back part of the upper pan, making the bolts inaccessible. This piece looks pretty sturdy and looks like its attached to the suspension. Is there any easy way to remove the upper oil pan? Do I have to remove this cross member? I have researched this site and cannot find any DIY's or instructions on this, so I believe that this is a b***h of a job to do. Has anyone removed the upper (#1) oil pan? Can anybody give me any ideas? I'm sure my rear seal is leaking too, but that looks like way to big of a job for me as I don't have a lift and removing the tranny may be beyond my expertise. I think my cam and crank seals are leaking as well but I think I can replace those when I do the timing belt. I'm stuck at the upper oil pan removal at this point, any help/instructions/info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all in advance.

There is no easy way. You have to drop the crossmember which means the engine mounts must come off and you have to support the engine and transmission, this is of course after pulling the steering rack loose and the lower control arms. If you're doing it you should go ahead and replace the engine mounts while you're in there and go ahead and drop the transmission to replace the rear main. It's a good full day's work even with experience.

[xxiiac]

Thanks RDM, I figured it wouldn't be an easy job, oh well, now gotta think about if I want to tackle this job or give it out to someone. Thanks for your input.