Bought a blue fel-pro gasket for the typical leak. Discovered someone siliconed the upper pan to the block with no gasket. It's really glued on, can't start any pry tools. Only thought is to remove bottom pan and grab onto aluminum casting with vice grips or a pipe wrench. Any ideas appreciated. I'm thinking I may have to break it off and buy a replacement., which would totally suck.

 

heat is your friend. try heating up an area enough to get a scraper in the space between. then work it around. may take a while but may also save you from damaging the sealing surfaces.

 

RwH, thanks. I will keep that in mind. A little apprehensive about laying underneath and using a torch with all the flammables.
Getting a good perch to apply downward force is a problem.
I'm looking for some steel and threaded rod to make a puller that will utilize the 3 bolts that hold the trans connection piece to the oil pan and leverage against the lower control arms. Hopefully that will allow space for a scraper.

 

you could go to harbor freight and pick up a heat gun no need for a torch

 

XJRefugee, thanks I'll have to look into that. Never used one but thought they were just a heavy duty hair dryer.

 

Stargate, what you say is true however, they will heat quite well ... worth a try for sure.

 

I'd agree....those HF heat guns get damn hot....in fact, depending on what you're using them on you often have to be really careful. I'd say for your situation there it might be a good tool. They are definitely way more than a hairdryer.

 

To be clear, i was not referring to an oxygen acetylene torch to do the job. I should've been more specific. a heat gun should do the trick.

 

There is a tab on the front of the upper pan to knock it off. If I remember correctly its front driver side. We used a pry bar and a dead blow from the top to get the seal to break. Of course at the time the intake and radiator was already out. But there are tabs to hit.

 

And oh one other thing to consider. The field service manual calls to remove lower pan and oil pick up tube before removing the upper pan. Not sure how necessary it really is but thats what the field manual states. Also once we cracked the corner seal of the upper, we used a plastic scraper to run around the pan. Aluminum and aluminum block, i favored caution and kept metal away. The downside of all this is you will have to reseal the lower and wait 24 hours for the rtv to cure. Like i said, just passing along what is stated in the FSM. Cheers.