Well I just noticed that there is a slight oil leak coming from the bottom of my timing chain cover! I was very carefull making sure that it seated properly on the oil pan gasket, but I must have missed something. I even put a small spot of rtv were the fiber cover gasket ends and meets the rubber pan gasket.

I guess my question is would it be easier to lower the oil pan and change that gasket or take off the front of the engine again, and wrestle with the cover seating properly again. I am actually considering taking it to someone to have the oil pan gasket changes, that has a lift and was wondering if any one has paid to have this done. How much did they charge you? After forty hours of cam and lt header install I am really not ready to tear apart the front of the engine again.

Thanks

Jon

 

I have see this topic a few times (same title too ) Try to do a search and see what toerhs did to fix.

I personaly dotn have any clue lol.

 

There are usually 2 causes of oil leaks after cam installs. One is the oil pan gasket and the other is the water pump seal that goes in the timing cover. Unfortunatley, both are going to require that you remove some necessities. For the oil pan, drop y pipe and remove starter (after you disconnect battery). Now, remove all bolts from oil pan. You don't need to remove motor mounts and jack motor up no matter what anybody says. The oil pan will not be able to be removed but will drop and give you a couple of inches to work with. Pull the old gasket out and clean the mating surface the best you can. The trick to putting the pan gasket on is the flexibility of the new gasket. There are metal rods in the staright parts of the new gasket but the ends (half circles) are flexible. Slide the new gasket between the frame and bottom of oil pan, almost like it's in place but underneath the oil pan mating surface where it needs to be. Try and keep the gasket as clean as possible though. Now that it is basically in place, pull on one side of the gasket to wrap around the edge of the pan and put it above the the pan mating surface and engine block like it should be. Once one side is in place, do the same to the other side. Once both side are in place, put some black RTV (not too much) on both top and bottom of half circle parts of gasket for a little reassurance. Bolt the pan back into place, not forgetting the retaining plates that go on outside of pan. Bolt up y pipe and starter and you're done. Took me a whopping 30 minutes start to finish.
As far as the o seal, there are no quick secrets. You still have to remove intake equipment (filter, MAF, etc), water pump, and coil. You'll also have to remove the Hub pulley. I di not remove smog pump but did pop fan shroud out and let it hang low. You will also need to unbolt the Opti. If you turn the 3 pronged crank hub (minus pulley), it will line up in a way that the Opti can be remove. This may be a good time to replace the Opti. Once you are at this point, you will see a shaft that connects the water pump gear to the water pump. This shaft is the secret to getting the new O-seal on without ripping. Pop the old seal out with a small flat tipped screwdriver. The new seal is $8 at O'reilly's. Take the water pump connecting shaft and sand down one end a bit. I used a dremel and took me about 30 seconds. Now slide the new seal over the sanded edge of the shaft. It should be a very tight fit, but this helps you line up the seal onto the mounting gear and is the same size as the gear itself. Slide the shaft over the gear like it would normally sit and place a large deep socket over the shaft. Now use a hammer and tap the end of the socket so it taps the new seal into place. No problem with ripping seal and has worked everytime I have done a cam swap or seal fix. If you try and just place the seal into place, I can almost guarentee that you will rip it. Now, just place everything back on and you're done. Good luck, and if you have any other questions, let me know,

Kyle

 

Well I am pretty sure that it is the pan gasket that seats with the bottom of the timing chain cover. When I took the cover off originally I replaced both seals using the little trick so I am pretty sure there ok. If it only took you thirty minutes to do it in your drive way I can't see a garage charging me more than a $100 to do it. I think I will just pay to have it done. If I have to take off my starter one more time after the header install I think I will lose it. Not that it is real hard but while I was installing the headers I forgot one criticle item....the dip stick tube! I had to take the damn header off and the starter so that i could get the tube down in the hole and bolt it back up. I was absolutely pissed! Probably more so about the header bolts but there is something about doing things two and three times over to achieve the same results.

Thanks for the reply.

 

I had the same problem but in a different order. I had the leak at the timing chain gasket before the cam install. Now after i took it there i figured i better throw a cam in. BUT, before i decided to do the cam the place quoted me at 200 - 250 bucks to go in there and change the gasket and the seal. I figured if i was going to pay labor to go in there i might as well put a cam in. But anyways thats about the neighborhood of the labor amount to replace the seal. Hope that helps. Good luck.


Chris

 

I did the same thing when I did my cam too. I ended up taking the front apart again, I think this is easier the taking the pan off. It took me about 4 hours to get it apart and back together again.