Oil Pan: Silicone gasket vs fel-pro gasket

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Jan 6, 2019 | 07:17 PM

Scarecrow Soze

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Oil Pan: Silicone gasket vs fel-pro gasket

Fixing a nasty curb hit on my dad's r56. I ordered all the parts I needed before I started working. Rock auto had only the normal type gaskets available so I ordered the felpro oil pan gasket. It was only after I removed the oil pan that I noticed mini had used a silicone gasket. The picture of gasket (still in the mail, hasn't arrived) looks like it fits.

My question is, (knowing there must've been a reason mini switched from gasket to silicone), has anyone used and had success with the felpro gasket? I rather not deal with returning it, but if the felpro won't keep the oil in for the long run, I rather use the silicone. Thanks in advance.

Jan 6, 2019 | 07:23 PM

WayMotorWorks

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We just use the silicone in our shop rather than a gasket.

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Jan 8, 2019 | 03:19 PM

Scarecrow Soze

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Cool, sending back the fel pro, picking up the silicone at the dealer. Thanks.

Jan 8, 2019 | 05:10 PM

I like mini clubman's

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My mini just had silicone gasket glue. There was no actual gasket. I ordered the felpro gasket from rockauto.com also and its a good quality piece. I haven't installed it yet as I'm waiting on a few bungs to weld to the pan. I think my repair manual says to just use silicone glue also, no gasket required.

Jan 8, 2019 | 08:22 PM

CantComplain

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If I'm not mistaken, the Bentley specifically mentions a fiber or some other material gasket and I think says not to use silicone. Paraphrasing here as it's been a couple months since I read it. I had already ordered the silicone and used it. It held the first time; I had to do another teardown to replace rings that were bad. It was a b!tch to get the pan off again. I ended up whacking it hard multiple times with a 2x6 to get it loose. As far as I know that's the only downside.

After the ring work I used silicone again. Was contemplating not ordering another tube as I THOUGHT I could go another round with the 2nd half but chickened out. The 2nd round is also successfully holding after ~100 miles. I'm a fan.