How do you replace an oil pan and oil pan gasket on a 1996 Honda civic Lx?

Answer 1

I bought a 98 Civic. At the same time I bought the $185 service manual (because I thought it would pay for itself over the many years Hondas go).

I highly recommend having a torque wrench at your disposal to perform this procedure. Hondas go forever if you take care of them, a torque wrench is a small investment (and some auto parts stores will loan/rent them to you).

According to the manual (for the 1998 - the 1996 is probably the same) you will first need to remove the transmissioin/engine stiffener. This is a piece that transverses from the engine to transmission and is held in place by 4 bolts.

After that you remove the existing oil pan.

You must scrape off any residue or remaining gasket from the engine block - you can do that with a putty knife. Be careful not to scratch/gouge the surface. Then clean the surface of the engine block.

Get a new pan and gasket. Use gasket seal (Honda part # 08718-0001 ir 0718-0003) to afix the gasket to the pan. According to the manual, after affixing the gasket you should use additional gasket seal at both of the short ends of the (more or less) rectangular outline of the pan/gasket (including the rounded corners) and then put them on to the block (do this within 5 minutes of applying the gasket seal). The manual indicates you should hand tighten six bolts - the ones at the corners of the short ends of the rectangle, and the ones right in the middle of the long ends. When these are hand tight you will insert and hand tighten the other bolts. Then increasingly tighten the bolts starting with the one most directly under the oil filter. Work from that bolt clockwise, gradually increasing the tightness of the bolts until you reach a torque of 8.7 foot pounds.

If you don't do this correctly you will warp the pan, so be careful.

Once completed you should refasten the engine stiffener. The bolts going to the engine side should be tightened to 17 foot pounds, the bolts to the transmission side should be tightened to 33 foot pounds.

You should be done, but the manual says to wait 30 minutes prior to adding oil.

Good luck!

Warning: There is no way you can take out the oil pan on 96 Civic w/o removing exhaust pipe. And removing this pipe is a major pain as the bolts holding it are all rusted.