milwaukeeshark

Doing a cam tower reseal and found considerable oil accumulation in the timing belt covers. I'm replacing the belt and I want to completely clean the front end, but can't remove the lower belt cover. If the water pump is not being replaced, does the crank gear have to be removed to allow this to be removed for cleaning? TIA

Bill Ball

I believe some people have managed to get the center cover off with the WP and crank pulley in place. I think Big Dave did it recently.

milwaukeeshark

Thanks Bill. Hopefully someone can provide some insight. Seems hard to believe that the water pump or crank gear have to come out to remove this. But as I'm still learning, nothing suprises me.

Dennis Wilson

MJ,

If you have oil on the inside of the covers, you will probably need to replace the front seal. This will require removal of the gear anyway. How old is the waterpump? It may look good and still be fine mechanically but replacing and retensioning the timing belt will often cause a leak in the pump seal. My 78 euro lasted about 50 miles after a new belt and retensioning.

Dennis

milwaukeeshark

Hi Dennis. It appears as though the oil source was from the camshaft seals/o-rings. I thought about the doing the front seal if I pull the crank gear, but the area immediately around the gear appear dry. You can see the path down from the cam tower. The water pump and belt were changed about a year ago, so should be ok. Thanks for the input. I'm guessing pulling the crank gear is easier than the water pump!

Dennis Wilson

MJ,

Haven't done it myself but it appears the cam seals can be replaced by just removing the cam gear. Since everything else is that fresh, are you replacing the belt due to contamination?

Dennis

milwaukeeshark

The belt clearly has surface oil and has been exposed to oil. I thought about cleaning, but belt cost is not that great. I had to remove the old one to remove the cam gears. As the tower to head gasket does not seem to be leaking, I've replace the camshaft seals, o-rings etc. I just want to clean up as completely as possible. Hopefully someone will shed some light or I'll be removing the crank gear. Thanks again.

Dennis Wilson

MJ,

You will probably need to remove the crank gear. If the gear is corroded on to the shaft you may end up cracking the cover to get it off anyway. IMHO that part of the cover is redundant anyway and has no use unless there is a leaking crank seal and that is minimal protection.

Dennis

mulik51

There are 2 plastic covers "around" the crank sprocket: one is on the outside(between crank sprocket and radiator) and is connected with 2 cam sprockets. Another plastic cover is between block and sprocket. You can remove the first one without removing the sprocket. Howerver, for the second one you need to remove the crank sprocket and the thrust wahsrs and belt "guide".

Hope this helps,

Klim

Garth S

BTW, the 'similar' oil leaks I repaired on my '80 were due to the large O-rings and passage seals behind the cam gear drive covers and the cam towers - and the distributor O-ring. If you haven't checked these, it may be worthwhile. Here's the link if you wish to check it out.

milwaukeeshark

Thanks Garth S. My leaks appear to be very similar to yours. The camshaft seals actually looked pretty good but the large o-ring on the rear of the cam nose plate were brittle and leaking as well as the smaller plug. Looking at the distributor o-ring, although not currently leaking, I think I'll replace anyway. Thanks to everyone, the crank gear is off and clean up is nearly complete. Will start to reassemble tomorrow.