Timing chain cover oil leak

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wkokaneeman

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What is involved in changing it? what needs to come off the car? what all is involved in doing this? I have an oil leak there, and it's starting to pi$$ me of! ThNks for the help!
 
wkokaneeman said:
What is involved in changing it? what needs to come off the car? what all is involved in doing this? I have an oil leak there, and it's starting to pi$$ me of! ThNks for the help!
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I had to remove the timing cover on my 98 in order to replace a timing chain tensioner. So here it is. Hopefully I don't miss anything.

You should have enough room ( I did) without removing the radiator but you will have to remove the cooling fan. All of the accessories attached to that timing cover need to come off. Leave the water pump on the car, as you will notice that it does not interfere with the timing cover removal process.

The A/C compressor can be unbolted and moved off to the side. There is no reason to remove that unit from the car entirely but rather just get it out of the way.

When dealing with the idler and/or tensioner pulleys I seem to recall a spacer/washer on one or both of those pulleys. Remember the orientation of that spacer/washer, as it will go on more than one way if I recall but only one way is right for proper alignment upon re-install.

For the crank pulley and the power steering pump pulley, you need a puller. Both should be readily available from your local auto store for rental. There is also a hard line from the power steering pump that has to be unbolted to get the timing cover off. Be sure to unplug both the crank position sensor and the cam position sensor, as they are both seated into the timing cover. The cranks sensor is down by the a/c compressor, and the cam sensor is up top on the driver's side right by the power steering pump reservoir which also needs to be unbolted and positioned to the side.

Now, you have valve cover overlap to deal with. For this part of the process I simply just cracked the covers free just enough to lift up the front corners to get the timing cover off. VERY carefully just pry up on the corner. The valve cover gaskets are very flexible and will want to fall under the cover if you go too crazy. You don't want that or you will end up removing them entirely to put that gasket back in place. When you put the cover back on, it is important to dab some RTV where the valve covers meet the timing cover at the front, and where the front of the oil pan meets the timing cover at the bottom below the crank pulley. (This is where your oil leak is probably originating). Those are the 3 seams that you need to RTV.

When removing the timing cover bolts, there are longs and shorts. You need to keep track of the orientation of these bolts. What I did was take a very large piece of cardboard and drew a rough sketch of the timing cover on the cardboard. I then poked holes where the bolts go on the cardboard diagram and stuck them in there for the time being. Organization is key. Keep all your pulleys and associated hardware separate from each other in there own spot. I used gallon-sized freezer bags for this.

Now, here is where I will give you just my opinion. Go about it how you want. Your oil pan gasket is bad and that's where this problem was created. The right way of going about this would be to replace the pan gasket. But if you are certain that it is just leaking at the front of the timing cover, then dab a generous amount of RTV all along where that pan gasket meets the bottom of the timing cover. But keep in mind, it may leak again elsewhere if the front of the gasket is already failing. Or it may be fine for a long time who knows.

There is a torque sequence for the timing cover bolts. I don't know what it is off the top of my head but you need to follow that sequence when the cover goes back on. Also, when you re-install the crank pulley, you need to pick up another bolt. The bolt that secure the crank is a torque-to-yield bolt and is a one time use only. The Ford dealer can provide you with a new one for a not too outrageous price.

There is a specific torque sequence for the crank bolt also that you need to follow. This is where you need another person. The inspection plug needs to come out of the transmission bell housing so that one person can put a wrench on one of the torque converter nuts. This is the method for holding the crank in place while you go through the torque sequence on the crank pulley. Otherwise, you are just going to be spinning the crank without actually tightening the crank pulley down.

That's all I got for now. I'm sure more people will pipe in. I'm going off of memory and it is not the greatest sometimes. I'm only human. LOL
 
KStromberg;

Thanks for that info! sounds like a bit more than I want to handle. I have a great mechanic, and i'll ask him what he'll charge, and go from there. I got this new MK that I am concentrating on right now, and it need some new tires, and my car we're talking about also needs some issues fixed. see my moon roof string on here. love the car, it's just got some miles on it now, and some upkeep is needed. 1 thing at a time!
 
For future reference, here's a diagram that shows the placement of all the bolts and studs:

timingcover.png
 
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