The beauty and the beast - oil pan gasket problem

[blown motor]

The beauty is my 68 Charger. The beast is the damn oil pan gasket. Here's the story. The gasket was leaking so I got one of those windage trays with the ribbed gasket incorporated from Summit. Started changing it myself but couldn't get pan out because it was hitting the K frame. Needed to lift the engine to get it out so it ends up at the garage in town. They do the work, I pick it up and take it for a run. When I get home I check it and it's leaking. I called Summit and they sent a new one right away, no charge. Jimynick comes over last week and we swap gaskets putting black Permatex on one side (I think just one side). I let it sit a few days then put oil in and now a few days later I have clear oil dripping. I have not started the engine.
So we're back to square one. I'm thinking I have two options here. One would be to drain the oil, wipe the leak area, spray it well with brake cleaner and when it's thoroughly dry put a layer of Permatex over the affected area. Now, I know that sounds like a redneck solution but could it work? The other option would be much more involved. That would be to removed the pan again, clean of all the prior Permatex, put a good bead of the black on both sides of the other gasket and reinstall. Either way the last step is to hope like hell it works.
I'm leaning towards option one and if that doesn't work then I'm forced into option two.
Thoughts and options are most welcome. This has dragged on far too long.

[anlauto]

First off, those gaskets are designed to go on dry metal, NO additional sealers...other then a small bead at the rear main ...

[blown motor]

Alan, I know they say that but it doesn't work for me. This is the third try for me, two on this oil pan and one on a transmission pan. They all failed. If they won't work dry then a little sealer can't be worse.

[three two barrels]

Did you straighten the oil pan flanges making sure they are super flat? They become distorted from over tightening or frequent removals.

Doesn't everyone over tighten their valve covers bolts??

[blown motor]

Yes we

Did you straighten the oil pan flanges making sure they are super flat? They become distorted from over tightening or frequent removals.

Doesn't everyone over tighten their valve covers bolts??

Yes we did. You could see some distortion around the bolt holes so we got it all flattened out as best we could.

[MoparLeo]

15 Ft. Lbs.

[Chryco Psycho]

Often it is the side seals on the rear main plate not the oil pan

[Dmod1974]

Are you sure the dipstick is accurate and not causing you to overfill the oil? The dripping without even running the engine points to an oil level way above the normal sump level. It should never be up past the oil pan rail and gasket. Granted, I don't know if the gasket should leak if it were, but it's not designed to seal that way. It should only be dealing with slosh and drainback splash oil. Also, having the oil level that high is bad for the engine.

[blown motor]

Are you sure the dipstick is accurate and not causing you to overfill the oil? The dripping without even running the engine points to an oil level way above the normal sump level. It should never be up past the oil pan rail and gasket. Granted, I don't know if the gasket should leak if it were, but it's not designed to seal that way. It should only be dealing with slosh and drainback splash oil. Also, having the oil level that high is bad for the engine.

Well we kind of wondered the same thing but I only put about 4 litres in it and it's not up to the full mark on the stick yet. The "wrong dipstick" could be a possibility except for the fact that I only put 4 litres in.

[Brads70]

Murry it's terminal, impossible to fix, just drop it off at my place or I can come pick it and take the problem away for ya!   

[blown motor]

Thanks Brad, you're a true friend!

[jimynick]

Sorry, you'll have to take a number Mr. Richmond. Black Betty and I are an item and if anybody's going to get into her pans..............

[Bullitt-]

  I just occurred to me that the extra material of this combination windage tray/gasket could be routing oil to the seam. Something the original pan design was not made to handle.
  I'd guess a gasket closer to OE might rectify the situation.

Or these support rails could solve
https://www.manciniracing.com/marabheoilpa.html

[70vert]

This post reminded me I'd seen a couple of red spots (trans fluid) on the garage floor so decided to check it out. All the bolts were a bit loose, as were all the bolts on the oil pan. I think this is a regular maintenance task to tighten all pan bolts!

[MOPAR MITCH]

Than is a special pan design... whereby the gasket rails are metal-center-cored... with thin rubber coating... and ultimately offer very little forgiveness to out-of-flatness of the oil pan flange.  Further, very little compression (actually squeeze..as rubber is NOT compressible).

I would get a pair of good name brand cork-rubber gaskets (Fel-Pro, Victor) and sandwich that metal gasket in between the cork rubber gaskets.   Or else, you could use the better latex-coated fiber gaskets from Fel-Pro (again, a pair).   

the problem is the metal cored gaskets simply are not forgivable to any distortion of the pan (out-of-flatness).

I'm a former gasket applications engineer from a major company... this was a common issue with metal-cored gaskets (such as oil pan, valve cover, etc).... simply very little forgiveness for out-of-flatness and barely any compressibility.