HELP!! 99 300M How do I drop the Transmission Pan with RTV Sealant?

100,000 Miles has hit and I'm trying to drop the transmission pan on my 99
300M, but there is so much RTV sealant I can get the thing to budge!

I can pry on one corner but I can see the corner of the pan trying to bend
and with the housing being aluminum, I don't want to pry very hard. There
are't many places to pry on anyway.

I've tried using a dead blow hammer to break things loose but no luck. Is
there a trick to this or am I going to have to head to a shop to get this
pan off?

I'm not sure what else to try. Any ideas suggestions??

 

When using the hammer, did you hit it from the side to shear the RTV?
That's the usual way. If it's stubborn, wedge something flat between
pan and case as far as you can without causing damage to the pan to
stress the RTV, and whack it from the side - the combination may do it.

When you put it back on, consider using the metal/silicone sandwich
gasket (dealer might have to order it) - it is put on dry - they work
well (no reports with them of any leaks on the 300M Club, and no problem
on my Concorde), and it will avoid the removal problem in the future.

Do a search on this newsgroup for the DC part number.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I was hitting along the side of the pan...but did not try prying while
hitting it..

I do have the new metal gasket to put on when I get it off.

 

a putty knife works real good

 

Do NOT pry. Get a thin putty knife with a semi-flexible blade, about 1"
wide. Tap it into the RTV between the pan and trans housing. Repeat
several times around the perimeter of the pan. DO NOT PRY with it, just
tap it into the RTV to break the seal in a number of places. Then repeat
your whacking with a dead-blow hammer. It should come off.

 

Well, after an 1 1/2 hours I finally got the pan off...I couldn't believe
how much RTV was on that thing....I tried the putty knife and that didn't
work so well...I beat on the pan from the side for a bit pretty hard and
then went back to prying on the one corner I could actually get a hold of.

Finally it broke loose but the corner of the pan did bend. After getting it
off I set it on the floor of my garage and flattened the corner back down.
Looked and felt as level as it should have been prior. Put it all back
together and so far only a few drops on the pavement, which I believe is
coming off the exhaust pipe from the drain runoff.

So today I changed out Power Steering fluid, Differential Fluid, Engine Oil
and Filter, and Transmission and Filter...Oh and topped off the washer
fluid.

Now for the dreaded 100K mile Timing belt change......

Thanks for everyone's help!

BTW...that metal gasket is wonderful...except for the Price! After messing
with that stiff though, it's worth it!

Mike

 

Moparmaniac wrote:

Not bad at all on a Chrysler 3.5. Very "service friendly" engine overall.

I'm actually not that big a fan of the metal gasket, because I've had a
minor leak every time I've tried it. Its definitely 100x better than the
old cork/neoprene gaskets, but it still depends on being evenly squeezed
to seal (ie, the pan has to be perfect. I use Permatex "The Right Stuff"
on the trans pan gasket, not only for the 42LE like yours but now for
ALL my Mopars. No leaks- EVER- and I've never had a problem getting one
back off with the putty knife trick. Conventional RTV is a disaster in a
tube, and I never even buy that stuff anymore.

 

Why did you take the tranny pan off?

Is taking the pan off part of a regular maintainence item?

Was that the first time the power steering and differential fluid was
changed?

How many times has the serpentine belt been changed?

How many times has the coolant been changed?

How about the battery?

 

On this planet, yes. On virtually all automatic transmissions, the
pan has to drop to change the filter and fluid.

Why change a battery until it fails?

 

Most shops want to do the power flush for a complete flush of the
fluids..that's fine but what about the filter...you have to take the pan off
to get to the filter.

No flush this time...I dropped the pan to put in a new filter.

Dunno, I bought the car at 95K miles. I'm just trying to stick with the
maint. plans guidelines...Figured 100K miles was a good time to do all the
fluids. (Differential and PS was due at 90K on the Severe Maint. Schedule,
Trans at 96K.)

Serpentine or timing belt.? Timing belt hasn't been change as far as I
know. Chrysler pushes the Timing belt change @ 100K miles, however I see
Mitchell Repair data shows 105K miles for my 99, 100K for 2000-2002, and
102K for 2003-2004.

The serpentine belt that is on there now is a Mopar belt......It looks too
good to be an original belt...the accessory belts will be changed out when
the Timing belt get's done.

This will be done when the timing belt is changed out too, along with a
thermostat and water pump.

Battery still looks like the original from I'm seeing...that's pushing 7 yrs
old so probably swap that before the winter time.

 

Do the tensioner pulleys (serpentine and t-belt) then too. They (their
bearings) are a wear-out item too these days.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Do the tensioner pulleys (serpentine and t-belt) then too. They (their

It's on the list..forgot to list it though.

A reputable shop in my town said Labor would run about $450 for all this
work..V-Belt, serpentine and timing belt changed, idler pulleys changed, w/p
and t-stat swapped out and coolant flush.

My cost for all the parts will be approx $200. Does that sound fair or
comparable to what everyone else is getting charged for all this work?

 

I just had it done on my '98 Concore 3.2L (essentially same engine as
3.5L - parts are the identical same ones) 2 weeks ago.

From a discount Chrysler dealer (shipping $8.49):
Water pump 4792195ab $69.95
Water pump gasket 4659430ab $1.93
Hydraulic tensioner 4573347 $83.33

From Rock Auto Parts ($18.86 shipping) (all parts are Gates except the
thermostat gasket):
Thermostat gasket (Fel-Pro) 35631 $3.86
Lower radiator hose 22420 $7.15
Upper radiator hose 22421 $12.18
A.C. V-belt 7550 $8.70
Accessory serpentine belt K060529 $13.09
A.C belt idler 38040 $13.36
Accessory belt idler 38042 $14.72
Timing belt kit (belt + tensioner - not the hydraulic one) TCK295 $100.99
Thermostat 33918 $6.89

That's a total of $360 for parts - I doubt you'll do any better on parts
prices unless you have some inside track. Notice that my list includes
upper and lower rad. hoses and the hydraulic timing belt tensioner (not
same as the timing belt tensioner pulley/bearing). It probably would
have been safe to not replace the hydraulic tensioner, so you could save
$85 there.

The shop I used did it for a pre-quoted labor of $300. I suspect that
was a better than average price and they would charge a little more if
they had it to do over again.

I'm saying you're a little low on your parts estimate based on my better
than normal prices and adjusting for the upper & lower hoses and
hydraulic tensioner. Your maybe a little high on labor, except you are
getting a coolant flush, so maybe it's in line.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

What Dealer do you work with to get the above prices?

I work for a Major Auto Parts Chain...so you might say I have the inside
track ; )
Also that comes in handy at the Chrysler dealer too...(though they grumble
about giving me a Company discount...)

Notice that my list includes

I only drive about 10K miles a year.....and I don't recall seeing much said
about they hyd. tensioner online and in forums.
The shop I use said they don't usually replace those when doing timing belt
changes.

The shop has always been proud of their labor..but you don't see comebacks
for the same issues.

I figure my discount for the parts would offset the higher labor.

Thanks for the advise...Maybe I can get a deal on the Hyd. tensioner and go
ahead and get that too while I'm at it.

 

Not at liberty to say publicly. What state are you in? You should be
able to come fairly close to those prices with certain on-line dealers
with drill-down parts lookups (such as www.chryslerpartsdirect.com - New
Jersey, and allchryslerparts.com - Kansas City - there prices actually
look pretty good).

That's reasonable.

 

That sounds pretty cheap to me. The only job on that list that's real work
is the timing belt. The water pump comes with it.