ARGH! Big oil leak! Anyone who has had the timing belt covers off?

[transparentdsm]

there you go. i have an impact and that just makes it easier. like zero effort at all.

 

Yeah 2 impacts guns later and it was still on there... we fired up the CNC mill and machined a bracket to hold the crank in place... got the crank pulley off, timing belt, and balance shaft belt. It should be interesting trying to get the actual front main seal off... i think I'm going to end up pulling the oil pump cover off in order to replace that seal. from the first glance it isn't obvious if it's the main, or the oil pump, or the silent shaft that is leaking... It's pry better to do all of them at the same time.

Also the lower timing cover is chewed all to hell... the "seal" that lives behind that cover got misplaced the last time someone bolted it down causing a 1/8" gap between cover and block... That's enough to cause soem serious contact... So lower cover is smoked... Anyone have one laying around they'll sell me for cheap? I'm gonna go beat downthe door to all the local junkyards, but now sure how hard they are to come by...

I suppose I'll put a new belt on it too... I believe that this belt has 20k on it... I wil pry leave the water pump though...

 

I under estimated the complexity of this thing.. Beginning to think I should have just pulled the engine out... That front balance shaft is a PITA... Any tips on how to hold it in order to remove the sprocket? the oil pump silent shaft has a window that you can stick a screwdrive in to lock it up, but I can't find anything like that for the front shaft... And it sits above the frame so I can't get an impact on it...

 

seems like you have let your engine down more, have you removed the two other engine mounts and removed the stabilizer running from the radiator support to the subframe, should give you enough room. but ive never removed the balance shafts with the engine still inside the car. worth a shot.

 

OK so I used the "baby belt" with a pair of vice grips held tight and turned until it backed up against a pinch point and got that front sprocket nut off. As I pulled the sprocket off the seal came out with it... I think I have found the leak... So I dropped the driverside front subframe support, and dropped the pan. Yes it is necessary to drop the subframe support to get the pan off. And yes it is required to drop the pan to get that front case cover off that contains all of the seals. Then when I tried to slide the cover out I found out the rear balance shaft is NOT the same as the driven sprocket shaft. The rear balance shaft (silent shaft) spins off of the other oil pump gear that is driven by the sprocket. I needed about 1/2 inch to pull the case cover and balance shaft assembly out... So i got a BFH and pounded the folded seam of chassis out of the way and had perfect space to pull it out.

So there she sits, with virtually the entire driverside of the engine bay dissassembled lol...

I have the seal kit and will hopefully get around to cleaning components this week and maybe putting it back together this weekend...

 

I've got it all put back together and on the road now... i went ahead a put a used transmission in it while I was at it (3rd gear synchro was out of it..)

It runs pretty good and NO LEAKS! lol