John Krawczyk

These are the leaky spots according to the mechanic who gave the car a once over while doing an alignment yesterday. The mechanic tells me that the leaks arent serious and can be put off, but i'd like to take care of this stuff myself and save the 2k worth of labor charges. He gave me an estimate for it all and the oil pan gasket replacement seemed the most labor intestive and very expensive. Only a few hundred cheaper than the estimate he gave me for the T-belt/Waterpump job. I perused the archives and there are a lot of opinions and methods on the best approach. What i would really like is a procedure for not ruining the 200 dollar alignment job i just got. Any of you old bugger guys have good BTDT advice?

Thanks in advance.

Scott M.

John;

Although all your leaks can be repaired will in situ, I myself would pull the engine to do it all at one time.
Reasoning:
-oil pan gasket can be done in under 4 hours (if you have a lift)
-Cam seals are the easiest, but if ALL need done, then the T-belt needs to come off again (circa 3 ish hours)
-Cam carrier gaskets... by far the most involved, and sooo much easier if the motor is on a stand (circa 5 hours if the cam seals are done at that time)

You can have the motor out in 2 hours...

Scott

shaaark89

hey scott,
how much to have you come pull my motor? (no way in h*ll i could do it in 2 hours.)

john,
if you just let the rack hang and don't disconnect the tie rod ends, the alignment should be ok.

Garth S

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...oil+pan+gasket
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=cam+seals

John,
The above two links cover my oil pan gasket replacement on an '80 and cam gear housing/seal leaks: Simple loosening the motor mounts and jacking at the bell housing made the pan gasket job relatively easy. With the '79, you have the large oil screen in place rather than the later style pick-up, so the 'cut & paste' worked well.
Fod the other oil leaks, read the second link: it is far more likely that the large O-rings and plug seals are leaking, as well as the oil filler gasket.
If you strip to do the TB job, then doing the rest with engine in the car is easy: BTW, it is considerably easier and with better access than the 32v cars. All these jobs nicely fit together for one assault: save the coin and get the experience ....

Adam C

Really?

"You can have the motor out in 2 hours..."

Scott M.

Tom;

Lest you forget I have waaayy too much experience pulling motors.

Pulling is the easy part, its' puting them back in that takes the time.

Adam;
I pulled the motor out of an 86.5 in 1.75 hours. Sasly, it is taking me 6 months to put back in.

Scott

WallyP

Try just snugging ALL of the oil pan bolts. Two fingers on a 1/4" ratchet...

Stan.Shaw@Excell.Net

Scott is obviously very good, and perhaps also using air tools.

I would struggle to get my motor out in 2 hours, and it is a simplified race installation, as well as having been in/out twice in the past year.

Airflite40

John, the oil pan gasket is not that bad as long as you are patient. Loosening the mounts and jacking the engine is how I did it. The hardest part for me was cleaning the pan. I suggest you clean as much as you can before you remove the bolts. I didn't need to cut my gasket either. I just slid it between the crossmember and pan and then lifted it over the pan. The rear cam seals are very easy, just remove the air box. The cam cover gasket is the hardest of the three. With the engine in, it is very difficult to pull off the covers without dropping the lifters and manuevering around the a/c & p/s lines on either side. I didn't pull the engine because I do not have access to a garage, living in the city. If youre going to do the cam cover, why not go all the way and do the head gasket too if it hasn't been done yet? For the cam cover gaskets definetely get the cam tool from 928 motorsports. http://www.928motorsports.com/parts/camtool.php Hope this helps. Borys.

John Krawczyk

Wally (and all),

I snugged the bolts two weeks ago when i did the oil change. I have every 10mm tool Sears sells to help me get at every bolt, even that crazy 10mm crow foot. Most of the oil leakage is at the front near the dipstick. I could probably do well with a new oring there too. Consequently its 2-3 bolts on that side that i cant reach with any tool. And thats where the majority of the oilly mess is located.

Thanks to the rest for the advise. I think i will go as far a removing the cross member and motor mount bolts. And do everything at one time. T belt and all. My radiator could stand to be removed and cleaned out too. Maybe i can stuff some headers in there too. I wish i had known enough about my car's foibles 4 years ago when i had the motor mounts replaced. This oil pan thing would be a non-issue.

Hey Scott - Do you have an extra hoist i can borrow?

Scott M.

Come on down! I have Troy's POS on the lift but it's outta hear today.

Your car is CIS and those are the easiest to extricate/work on.

If you just have a few 'small' leaks, just drop the Alternator and snug the bolts. But I'm sure at this point your gasket is pushed out and thus causing the majority of the leak. In a pinch, spray the crap out of the leaky area (OP gasket) with Gumout, let dry completely and hand apply some RTV to seal it until you can go deep on it.

Scott

John Krawczyk

Scott,

I just might take you up on that after SITM. Lemme get all the parts together and i'll get back to you.

Thanks a million and by the way, it would be come on UP for me. I'm south of you if your talking about that garage in the middle of nowhere in southwestern PA.