Yes it is oil.

 

Everything is bone dry except for the oil pan seal and down.

 

remove the cat converter. that will allow you to remove the oil pan. remove the oil. remove the bolts from the pan. i understand protege does not use a gasket. they use sealant. if that is your case, the pan will stay in place and it would be a little difficult to remove. now, look at the pan and you will see in the side of the pan facing the front of the car, a nut welded on the pan. take one of the bolts you removed from the pan and screw it in there. it will start to separate the the pan from the main bearing support bracket. use a putty knife and remove the pan. be carefull not to gouge any of the surfaces. remove the old sealant with a razor blade from both surfaces. a wire brush helps there. now get a new tube of permatex sealant appropriate for that application. check that the pan edges are flat and in good condition, specially around the bolt holes. clean both surfaces with mineral spirits, thinner or gasoline. clean the oil pan bolts too. remove as much of the old sealant from the bolts. if you notice, on the edges of the oil pan, you will see kind of a "ridge" all around it. put a bead of sealant all around the oil pan in that ridge and around each bolt hole. dont have to hurry too much, but dont waste time. when done, put the oil pan in place and screw the bolts in. pay attention, i think the bolts close to the transmission are shorter than the rest (2 bolts). torque the bolts in place (if you can) little by little in a pattern like when installing the cylinder head. let the sealant cure for at least 12 hours before putting oil back in the engine. put a big sign on the steering wheel to remind you to put oil in the engine!!! while the sealant cures, install the catalytic converter. no need for new gasket there if you did not damage the cat's metal gasket. now you are done. do not forget the oil.

 

Thanks a lot Jaunky! I will do it this weekend. Couple of more questions for you, can I do this on jackstands and what are the torque specs if any for the oil pan bolts?

 

drain the oil. then raise on jack stands. its easier. your engine might have what they call an oil pan stiffener. if that is the case, remove the stiffener bolts from the transmission and from the engine block. then the ones from the oil pan. torque numbers from the book are 69-95 IN-LB. not foot pounds. thats inches-pound. the conversion is from about 6 to 8 foot-lb (foot pounds). since the car is raised and you wont be using it for at least 12 hours, its a good time to check the bushings for the shift stick (disregard if your car has an auto transmission). the bushings are cheap from the mazda dealer. about $1.50 each. you need at least 4. you can buy better fancy ones online. i say šat leastš because im not sure that your car has only 4 or 6 bushings. it it has 6 bushings, like my 2003 protege, you wont be able to change 2 of them because the ones at the middle of the control rod are held in place by a rivet. you will have to grind that thing off and buy a bolt. but replacing just the 4 bushings found at the ends of the rod will really surprise you with the results. tip. use BLUE locktite tread lock when replacing those bolts. it sucks to loose one bolt and not being able to shift gears. its not uncommon to happen. again, if your transmission is manual, use the occasion to replace those bushings (or install them, they should be gone by now). you know you need those bushings if there is a lot of play at the shift stick and some metal rod noise , like bars clanking together, from under the car.

 

Thanks for the advice! I bought the black permatex seal for the oil pan and the blue permatex threadlock or tight for the bolts. I also bought lacquer thinner as I heard that it would help remove some of the tougher gunk from the seal. Is this okay?

 

perfect. lacquer thinner is what i use to clean all those surfaces. i used a dremmel rotary tool with a wire brush to clean all the old sealant from the oil pan surfaces. for the other surface at the engine i just used a razor blade scraper and the thinner. to this date, not a single drop of oil. you will be fine.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOa32pw7Mo



I can't get the oil pan out unless I take out the bolts on the left side of the transmission (automatic) and the cat. I don't know if that is the bell housing where the bolts are on the transmission. If I take the bolts out, will it cause fluid to leak?

 

yes. you have to remove the catalytic converter. taking the bolts out wont give you a fluid leak. the transmission fluid is in the torque converter and other places.

 

Thanks! I will complete this job and let you know how it went