I have a really bad oil leak somwhere in the vicinity of the timing cover. Had a new distributor installed 2 yrs ago (the distributor was full of oil so I was told). Trailered car from Huntsville Alabama home to do the work on it myself this time. Have already removed fans, radiator, water pump and distributor and was preparing to remove timing cover and replace seals and gaskets when I just was told that the timing chain isn't lubricated. Is this true? I suspected the cam seal was bad but if the oil isn't in the timing cover then how could it get to the distributor.

 

The timing chain is lubricated. The most common front oil leak is the water pump drive gear seal. I advise just replacing all the front seals with the age of a 1994. I always install the water pump drive gear seal after the timing cover is reinstalled. I have a pen cap that bullet shaped that allows me to slide the seal in place without letting the inner lip roll over.

 

The timing chain is definitely lubricated. I don't know of a car that doesn't have a lubricated timing chain. Now a timing belt, that's a different story; those are not oiled.

As for the cover seals, just remove the cover and replace all 3 seals with the cover off the car. the take the waterpump drive shaft coupler, slide it through the wanterpump drive seal in reverse (so it doesn't fold the lip), then position the cover in place by aligning the water pump drive shaft coupler onto the sprocket, and slide the cover into place.

The coupler is an exact fit on the sprocket, and will prevent the seal's lip from folding over.

Thomas.

 

ya i was getting to my opti bec it was ****ed up and when i pulled out one of the botls in the water pump to remove it some oil came out with the bolt instead fo coolant...lol.? Is that from that driver gear or what?

 

i just redid my timing chain cover when I did the cam swap the waterpump seal got messed up and it does leak, the next time the waterpump comes off ill try to fix it.

 

I got a leak around my timing cover on my 86 iroc. but i've figured out that the balancer shaft is just so worn that the oil leaks out from it, and when the engine is running the oil is sprayed all over the front of the motor so it looks like it's coming from under the water pump...