Just had the front and rear seals replaced on my 97 Z-28 SS last week.

There is still two leaks from the engine, the first leak is up front, about 3" behind where the belt and pulleys are, the 2nd leak is one inch behind the front of the tranny pan!

I'm guessing they did a bad job on both seals or i have a intake leak.

Chas

 

I'd say at least a intake leak

might have a leaking opti or w/p seal

 

The shop said it would cost $500 for the intake.

If it is the intake i may hold off and do a cam change while i'm at it!

I would like a mild cam, and some other mods for another 30 to 50hp.

Chas

 

My guess would be the intake leak and maybe your timing chain cover? I know mine leaked before I took it off, and even a little now after I did the cam job. And my buddy's Formula is leaking from the timing chain cover now too.

 

god damn!!! you need to learn to work on your car man, thats 500 for a maybe 2hr job if you eat lunch in between.

 

Sounds more like the oil pan gasket to me. The pan gasket is the bottom of the timing cover gasket and the bottom of the rear main housing gasket.

If the shop replaced the timing cover and rear main gaskets, they would have had to break the seals to the oil pan gasket to do it. I would definitely recommend replacing the oil pan gasket at the same time; and am surprised the shop didn't suggest it. Do they work on many 4th gen LT1s?

Thomas.

 

I dont know how many LT-1's they have worked on. They build race engines and have done all my performance work on 5 of my trucks and cars, without any problems!

Chas

 

if they just replaced the front crank seal and rear main, there is no need to crack the pan gasket

 

No problems except for the rape charge.

I can have an LT1 intake on and off in a little over an hour.. maybe 1.5 hours at most.

That's including removing all connections and the fuel rail.

 

$500 Also inlcudes a rad flush, and a coldair intake and muffler install.

Anyway i cant seel how the oil pan would be leaking, since the front leak is way in front of the pan, and the back leak is one inch behinde the front of the tranny pan.

I cleaned the garage floor, parked the car early sat and let it sit until monday nite, both leaks are a good 3ft from each other!

Chas

 

$500 is still rape for that work, no matter how you look at it.

Muffler is one hour of labor.

CAI is like 15 minutes of labor.

Radiator flush? whatever the average cost of that is, i have no idea, never had that done...

Intake, 2 hours of labor at the most...

Say at most 4 hours of labor at shop charge of what, $70 an hour? At most should be around $280-300 for all that.

IMO. I'm no mechanic by trade, but I do this often enough to know how long this **** should take.

 

Ya, I guess you're right. I assumed a rear main would include removing the rear main housing and replacing that gasket too. And replacing front seals would include everything in the timing cover; but I suppose that would involve more work (taking water pump and opti out).

I can see a shop charging $500 for the intake, It really depends on your area. In downtown Austin, I could see a shop charging even more! But in rural areas around here, the shop would probably charge a bit less. Remember, shops do not charge the customer how long the work takes to complete, they charge how long the book says it should take to complete.

Why don't you just jack the front of the car up and find out where the leaks are coming from?

The front one could be the front of the intake, the timing cover to block gasket, or one of the timing cover seals (waterpump drive, optispark drive, crank seal, or crank position sensor o-ring)

The rear one could be the rear of the intake, the rear main, the oil pressure sending unit, or rear of the valve covers.

To check for the intake, open the hood and stand on the passengers side of the motor. Run your fingers along the rear of the intake, where it meets the block, and see if your fingers get covered in oil. If so, the intake is leaking.

Or ...... just take it back to the shop and tell them to fix it, whatever it is. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to replace all of the gaskets and seals I mentioned, if that's what it takes.

Thomas.

 

I guess... but still damn. I just charged someone $600 to install a cam on an LT1... so I see $500 for an intake and I think "where's the lube".. pulling the intake off is the easiest part about a cam swap. LOL

 

The car is in the shop now, if it's leaking from the work they did, they will redo it for no charge.

I should know more about it tonight! Most chevy dealers would charge alot more than $500 for the work.


Chas

 

Found out the front balancer is bad, that caused the new front seal to fail.

Intake and the oil pan is not leaking. Got the cold air and Flow Master -80 installed.

Chas