Hi folks. A while back I posted about an oil leak off the front of my engine. Well it never really got resolved. One mechanic kept dicking me around and charging me for different repairs, another looked it over and gave up on the leak, and a third left it parked for a month without even moving it.

Finally I said **** it and lived with it for a while. I decided to fix it myself, and started taking it apart over the weekend. Well tonight I got the water pump off (Don't laugh, I've never actually done that before.) and I THINK that the oil leak is coming from the drive shaft for the pump. There appears to be fresh oil underneath the shaft.

However I ****ed up a bit... I didn't drain the block before removing the pump, and a good bit of coolant spewed out. Not much seems to have actually hit the opti, but I've read it's really sensitive. Also.. it's obviously old, and it looks like this.



As far as I know it's original and I'm at 125k miles.
Should I be worried and maybe just go ahead and change the damn thing now? It's an expensive part to just change, but I'm also planning to do some AI ported heads and take it to the track. I'd hate to get stuck 300 miles away in Phoenix because I left a worn part in there.

I'm kinda thinking that while I'm in there, it would be a good idea and just do something of a tune up, like new hoses(some definitely need replaced), wires, plugs, pump and belt. Or should I stop worrying, shut up, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

 

I've always gone with the if it ain't broke don't fix it policy. Seems like the second you start changing parts that work fine it's like a domino effect and pretty soon you are looking at quite a bit of money. However, if it has that many miles on it, I would consider changing it seeing as how you already have half the job done. If you have 125k on the clock your timing set should still be in good shape. I would pull the opti, pull the timing cover and replace all three seals. New opti, new water pump and make sure you use teflon tape on the water pump bolts or they will leak for sure.