[mrstangABQ]

My car was knocking then it wouldn't start. My suspicion was the oil pump.

Today I dropped the oil pan a few inches and found out that my oil pump drive shaft was cracked in half.

I could replace the oil pump and shaft without dropping the oil pan all the way but the pan needs some serious cleaning. I removed the cross member but there are some steering parts preventing the pan from coming down all the way.

Does anyone know what I need to do to completely remove the pan?

[butchd88]

you can remove idler arm bolts from the frame and it might drop the steering linkage down low enough to remove pan,but the way i do it is take the bolts off of the oil pump and let the pump fall into the oil pan,then the pan will come down.
hope this helps butch

[mrstangABQ]

Removing the two bolts to the idle arm did the trick.

Thanks so much!

[nigel]

Remember to prime the oil pump febor starting.