TwinCam sump gaskets

[buzzer]

In doing a road test today i found I have an engine oil leak. From both the front and the back of the engine 😏. Dropped the pan yesterday and definately looks like the sump gasket, could be the front and back oil seals. I rebuilt with a decent gasket set and used silicone gasket on the cork seals and have done ford engines loads of times so was surprised to find it leaked!
So my question, any advice on what gaskets to use and sealants.

[Pfreen]

My two cents.  Make sure pan is flat.  I like the cork ends better than the rubber ones.  The rubber ones can extrude out.  I use ultra black silicone. 

The most important thing I believe is to torque it very evenly, so you need a low range, accurate torque wrench.  I initially torque evenly to 1 foot pound.  Let dry a few hours and torque to 2.5 foot lbs.  After running and hot, I retorque to 5 ft -lbs.

If it still leaks, you have a little more room to tighten to the max torque of 8 ft-lbs.  The reason it is important to go slowly is that if you crank down right away, the gasket extrudes out between the bolts because the silicone is slippery and the gasket compresses very easily.

[buzzer]

Thanks, good call on over squeezing before the silicone has gone off and you risk squeezing the gasket out. I prefer the cork ends as well as they allow more compression than some of the rubber ones.   
Will check the pan for flatness before I refit

[jbcollier]

Beather plugged?

[Lotuswins]

I agree on the straight pan, but I usually use the rubber over the front and rear caps as it doesn't shrink like cork tends to.  Silicone on the joints too.  Just snug it down and wait for the silicone to cure, then snug down some more.  I never torque them, it seems to distort the pan metal, just snug them down until the gasket just starts to compress.  Check in a few months for bolt tightness.  Hylomar works well for the rest of the gasket too. 

Jerry Rude
4005R

[buzzer]

I'll post some pics when I get chance. but the sump pan was not level in particular each mounting was proud especially the corner one's. Could have been over tightened at some point and I should have checked more carefully when I rebuilt the engine. But I suspect there was something else that could have caused the distortion. The sump had at some point suffered a thrown rod and caused a push out dent which I sorted out but didn't do much more than a simple check on the flange. That I would expect would cause the distortion around the fixings. There are no signs of any any block or crank issues. Be back on later this week when I get back home and running this weekend.