BHMav8r

How hard or is it even practical to fix timing chain cover leak w/o dropping engine?

Or . . . what else should I do while I drop the engine this winter (I lose that term loosely living in the south)

TIA !

Laker

You can partially drop the engine to get at the chain covers.

BHMav8r

I love Rennlist !!! You are my hero of the day.

Exactly what I needed in 32 minutes.

I have those same 5 posters hanging in my garage.

BHMav8r

can you elaborate on this - while I'm in their . . .

"The while you were in there's are replacing the seals on the chain tensioners, also not too hard, and the o-rings on the oil bridges to the cam lobe oil rail, also not too bad."

justin-in-athens

You don't even have to do a partial drop. The thing that really gets in the way is the AC compressor mounting bracket. However I just did mine with the engine tin removed and loosened the bracket. Rear muffler will also need to be removed.

This really only works if you can get the stud behind the bracket to come out versus just removing the nut. The driver's side comes off no problem. Its the passenger's side that is the hassle.

Where are you located in the south exactly?

Rocket Rob

Dropping the engine is not hard and it gives you easy access to everything. I would suggest reconsidering it.

Good luck with the repair.

BHMav8r

Do you mean the timing chain cover nut/stud? Seems the nut would come off with the bracket loosened slightly aft to provide clearance, but it would take much more clearance to get the TiChCov stud out.

Birmingham, AL

Thanks.

Also - how long did it take you guys to drop an engine the first time?

justin-in-athens

Yes, the innermost cover stud on the passenger's side. The reason being is if you just remove the nut you still need to be able to pull the cover outwards, and there is not enough clearance to slide it out. You can remove the entire AC compressor bracket to gain the clearance, but for that you really need a special tool to remove the harmonic balancer from the crank.
Mine came out this way with not special coercion, but you might not have such good luck.

justin-in-athens

Some folks modify their AC bracket upon removal as to make this more easily serviced.

BHMav8r

So there is enough stud w/o threads to get pliers on to unscrew it (if its not stuck) The grommet washer looks thick enough.

Your not saying that if the nut comes off the stud, youre screwed because all you have is threads to grab on to.

By modify the ac bracket you mean grind off the metal that wont allow it to pass the harm bal ?

What tool? How hard to reinstall the harm bal ?

Thanks again.

RicardoD

In addition to the timing chain cover leak, there are gaskets for the timing chain housing themselves which also leak and probably need replacing. You can mess with the timing in your car if you not careful with this. You can do this by removing the rear bumper and dropping the engine slightly, just loosen the rear engine mount bolts an inch or so.

justin-in-athens

Vice grips on the threads of the studs sounds ugly, but that is what was suggested to me here on RL somewhere. I ended up not having to go there because several of the studs came out with the nuts still attached.

I wish I could claim to be an expert on this, but im not. Have a look at some of the other threads on this subject. And yes, grinding off a marginal amount of material on the AC bracket doesn't harm anything...just make sure you paint it when you are done if you go this route..

I do not know the # for the harmonic balancer tool. I should note that my engine mounts were being replaced at this time as well, so the engine was easily manipulated in terms of height with a floor jack.

BHMav8r

Thank you soo much for your write up on this. Probably saved me from doing the front cover gaskets and then going back and replacing the gaskets and Orings you replaced. Like doing the timing chain guide/tensioners '"while Im in there".

Cheers!

HalV

RicardoD, any tips on how to avoid messing up the timing while doing this work?

BHMav8r

Seemed like his diy stopped at a timing issue and/or the timing chain tension so as not to change timing. He referenced literature for setting the timing. Of course you have to set both sides with the same timing.

His thread is here . . .

https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...t-o-rings.html