just replaced all 12.4 quarts of fluid but had a hell of a time with the pan with the exhaust. Ended up leaving the filter in and will revisit in 10k miles or so. fighting with exhaust and filter, I forgot to change the gasket. Pretty sure the gasket got wet with ATF while the fight was underway. I saw it was moist last night so I dried it up as best I can. I can't remember what it looked like this morning but checked at lunch and it's still moist. It doesn't come off red on my hands and the pan and everything around it is still dry and not red so I'm thinking the gasket is still moist from the process (got kinda messy). Any reason for concern?

 

I just changed my trans filter and fluid and threw away the POS gasket that came with the filter. I reused my 17 year old stock gasket, so far so good..

 

Yea, I think it got wet with fluid flying around or the gasket accidentally went into the pan during the fight and hasn't dried. Those are super absorbant

 

I use the grey rtv if I don't have a stock gasket to use. rtv works great and never have to worry about it leaking.

 

ive thought about pasting some on the outside since pan is in place full of fluid. That and/or blue loctite. Could I put a layer around the outside?

 

That grey is some mean ****.

Prolly just sell the truck if the pan ever needs to come back off. Let the new owner deal with it. lol

 

The reusable rubber/metal gaskets are good. If its not dripping you are fine.

 

i rechecked the bolts last night and all were good. Gasket is drying out so it must've gotten it wet when I was fighting the exhaust.

thanks guys!

 

it's a hell of a lot easier to do the pan and gasket with the y-pipe off. You can stick a pry bar in between the trans and the shift cable bracket and bend it out of the way enough to give you some more room. then just bend it back when you're done. that metal is thick enough it won't fatigue easily from one or two times.

 

it's a 2wd so the shift cable isn't in the way. Figured I'm going to keep hitting the y pipe bolts with pb blaster everyday for a week then try to remove them again. I'll do this before I bother getting any fluid out and waster anymore. I'm guessing the heat welded the bolts together on the y pipe. No rust whatsoever on my Texas truck so the heat has probably taking a toll on the bolt. I have a breaker bar or I may step up in a bigger air tool. 190 lbs wouldn't budge a few of them. Some bolts on the y pipe weren't bad at all. There was what I guess was an o2 sensor in the way. I assume they just screw out pretty easily?