garrett376

Ok, that sounds like it could be a gross technique... but let me share my experience from the past hour in the garage. It took me just one hour to replace this little o-ring responsible for a considerable leak that would trickle down the flywheel side of the engine, on the cross-over pipe, and smoke like a chimney! Took me about that long to make this thread!

Well, to get at that little bugger that sits on the front of the engine (flywheel side), I decided to do a hemi-manifoldectomy to get at it: remove half of the manifold to make the reach easy. I had read from somewhere (maybe Adrian's book) about trying to reach back there to get at things. Well, it's so easy if you just remove what's in the way...

First off, the air filter box is removed, then the air-flow meter is removed. Just two screws in the airbox, one screw on the induction boot, one vacuum line, and the air-flow wiring plug (which is a PITA to reach thanks to that oil breather hose running above it). Once that's out of there...

garrett376

Now, here's the little bugger we're after hidden way back there- you see it's still blocked by the manifold - so off it goes by unplugging a few plugs and vacuum lines...

Some advice: it's easier to prevent something from falling in the heads than to fish it out - cover those intake ports!!!

garrett376

now there are two 10mm nuts holding the entire apparatus to the engine case half - undo the electrical connections to the pressure sender and temp sender, and out it goes leaving an oil bog below... oh yeah, clean the area before taking it off - again to prevent crap from falling into the bog below...

garrett376

here's the new gasket - part number 999-707-314-40 from the dealer for a whopping $2.90 - 3.28 or so with tax. The girl at the desk gave me grief for using my credit card... what, I don't carry cash!!!

You can see the old gasket is worn flat (or was it flat to start with?!). The old one was sliced in half, remove, and the new one placed on carefully (the dealer had just one in stock, so I wasn't about to be hasty here!).

When the whole unit was placed back in, it went in with a nice "snap" - it felt like it sealed a heck of a lot better!

garrett376

Now that it is back in, time to put everything back together!

The vacuum reserve canister line is a tough one to remember to put back on. And with all the monkeying around it takes to put back in the air-flow meter and the air filter box in, make sure you didn't knock off the vacuum line entirely by reaching around the back and feeling that it's still attached.

Plug everything back in, tighten up all the 7mm joints on the manifold and the throttle/intake tubes, and you're set!

Go for a nice drive to reset the DME maps, and most importantly, burn off all that oil that had been leaking over the past 2 days!!!

garrett376

As an aside, an interesting thing I decided to do, was to confirm that the oil was in fact leaking from this location by doing a simple test. I took some brake cleaner, and doused the area of the sensors (had to clean that area anyways), and watched from below the engine to find that it was dripping in the exact same location on the floor as the oil drips from before. That was encouraging to see that it is with great likelihood that I will have fixed my leak!!! Time and a new piece of cardboard on the floor of the garage will tell.

Enjoy!!

bhensarl

You are truly an inspiration, Garrett. But don't fix all the oil leaks, or you'll feel guilty like Arjan! Thanks for a great DIY post.

Brian

bhensarl

Hey Garrett, could you tell that the sender was leaking just by looking at it from the top? I mean, once you removed all the junk in the way, anyway? Was there oil in that area on the top of the engine? Thanks again for a great writeup.
Brian

Eric Kessel

One note: If you have AC, there is a bracket from below the compressor that uses the two 10mm nuts also, so you have to remove the bracket (bar) by removing one of the 4 bolts that positions the compressor (not a big deal) before you can take the sender off the engine.

Smokin

Garrett... Thanks for the great write-up. I have one of those annoying oil leaks... One drop when I turn it off... Then nothing else until the next time I drive it. Judging from the looks of your leaks it looks like it was a similar problem. I may probe a little deeper to see if it's the same problem... You write-up will make it a lot easier!

garrett376

Hi Guys, thanks for the kudos!
Brian, when it was leaking - it leaked a lot. I could clean everything up, then turn on the engine, and it would start dripping after about 30 seconds where it would drip onto the header cross-over pipe. So, I cleaned the top of the engine with a rag and noticed it did get oily again up there again after running it for a while. I never really saw it squirt out just because the view is so difficult to see back there. But once I removed the sender, it was clear that the o-ring was shot.

Eric - good point about the A/C bracket - I had removed that bracket a couple weeks prior when I had disassembled the entire intake to clean it.

H964

man, i have the same leak, not sure its coming from there cause u really cant see , but i have the same leak place. this will be my project tomorrow.
keep up the good work