2002 jeep liberty limited 3.7L
long story short, went wheeling, hit my engine oil pan on a rock, semi huge dent on the oil pan, now its leaking oil like crazy.
it seems to be leaking at the gasket area rather than the pan itself.
my question, if the oil pan itself is NOT punctured or anything, can i just change out the gasket and keep the oil pan? cant really afford a new one at the moment and its my daily driver. might have to call in sick tomorrow so i can get this fixed.
i havent got the chance to thoroughly inspect the damage yet and thought i'd put the question out and get an answer by the morning before i do anything. please help!

Worth a shot. The oil pan is just that, a pan. Check the oil pick-up to make sure it isn't squashed or displaced and it should be fine. The oil pan isn't mechanical, so it doesn't have to be perfect. Just do a real good survey beforehand to make sure you know what is going on and what is really damaged.
If you just knocked it and it is leaking around the gasket I doubt it would be leaking like crazy. The only oil that gets there is what is splashed against it. I have a feeling it isn't the oil pan that is leaking if the leak is that bad.

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2002 KJ Limited 3.7
Completely Stock
215/85R16 Kevlar

Man you got some work ahead of you as the engine needs to be pulled or the engine supported by a cherry picker and the cradle dropped to change that gasket.

Either way you have to pull the pan
so the cheap part at that point is going to be the pan itself
Just plan on replacing it since if it has a dent in it its gotta be swapped out
I won't even say skids are cheap

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

Not to mention the pan gasket is also the windage tray,not cheap.

i guess theres a lot more to it then.. ill bring it in to a mechanic. thanks for the input everyone! hopefully i can post some pics before i get it fixed

alright, stupid me... its the transmission pan, not the oil pan..
in my defense, it was 4 am, in the dark, and really tired..
anyway, the dent happened right where the screw on filter is at. the mechanic showed me the pan and it didnt get punctured or anything, it just warped enough to leak around the seals. plus, the filter pretty much saved the rest of the parts from getting messed up because it stopped the pan from denting in further.
cost me about $230 out the door, but whatever, saves me the time and hassle, plus i got to drive it to work tomorrow...