Leaking timing cover

DarkProphet · Sep 14, 2005

How would I know if my timing cover is leaking. I tried putting water in my water pump and seeing if it is comming back out of the oil pain, but i havent noticed anything comming out yet. Any ideas on how I could check? thanks!

bjl95mustang · Sep 14, 2005

Is it cracked? Can you go into some more detail?

DarkProphet · Sep 14, 2005

well im getting coolant in my oil. I replaced my head gaskets, did a compression check, their all above 140 and all within 12% of eachother. Ive also replaced my intake manifold (3 times actually) and it still was having problems. the only thing really left if the timing cover gasket that could be leaking, so i want to check to see if it is.

bjl95mustang · Sep 14, 2005

Well, I would just go ahead and replace the gaskets and check to see if the cover might be cracked. You can get the gaskets for under $10 and it's only about 10 bolts you have to remove and install.

5spd GT · Sep 14, 2005

You will need to remove your electric fan (and most likely radiator to get some more working room if you would like). Harmonic balancer, water pump (or you can take it off together) and your there. I put my gasket on with rtv silicone on both sides of the gasket personally. Put a nice dab of silicone in the corners where the block/oil pan/timing cover meet and get a U shaped gasket for the oil pan "u shape".

Good Luck

DarkProphet · Sep 14, 2005

what is the u shaped gasket called? I know i need a gasket for the water pump and one for the timing cover, and already have those part numbers, but dont know about the u shaped one.

also when removing the balancer, is it keyed so that it can only go on one way? im assuming that it is, but just want to make sure.

I have water up to just about the bottom of hte coolant ports in the heads (lower intake is off), and still have no water dripping into the pan ( have the front drain bolt out).

My thermostat was indeed in backwards, what problems could that have caused? for somereason it still had coolant comming out of the top rad tube though.

5spd GT · Sep 14, 2005

DarkProphet said:
what is the u shaped gasket called? I know i need a gasket for the water pump and one for the timing cover, and already have those part numbers, but dont know about the u shaped one.

also when removing the balancer, is it keyed so that it can only go on one way? im assuming that it is, but just want to make sure.

I have water up to just about the bottom of hte coolant ports in the heads (lower intake is off), and still have no water dripping into the pan ( have the front drain bolt out).

My thermostat was indeed in backwards, what problems could that have caused? for somereason it still had coolant comming out of the top rad tube though.

I'm not for sure what it is actually called (can't remember?). It is the gasket that goes on the bottom of the timing cover. It takes the place of the oil pan gasket where it dips into a U. When you remove the timing cover most of the time it gets ripped so you replace it. You trim the old oil pan u shape off and replace it. I hope that made sense?

The balancer is keyed...it only goes on and off one way.

The t-stat being backwards could have kept coolant backed up and caused the coolant to be in the top radiator cap depending on how much you actually had. My top radiator hose has a bit of coolant when I remove it.

Good Luck!

mo_dingo · Sep 14, 2005

Just get the timing cover gasket kit from autozone. It has everything in it. I think the part number is TCS45449.

Nothing you can do but yank the timing cover and see if the gasket has any damage.

Also, it could be at your lower intake manifold.
Scott

1994Vib.RedGT · Sep 14, 2005

my timing cover was leaking real bad, so i did it a few months back, not too bad of a job, but I had coolant all over the bottom of the motor and the lines through there, thats how i knew

DarkProphet · Sep 14, 2005

I now think it is my headgaskets rather then the timing cover. I saw drips of coolant comming from inbetween the block and head, I had good compressin in the cylinders so it must just be pushing into the block. im going to replace the head gasket on that side. Im pretty sure this was all caused by the thermostat being in the wrong way.

94 Cobra 5.0 · Sep 15, 2005

head gaskets

if your going to have the block that far down you might as well just replace both head gaskets. no point in just replacing one so that the other one can go bad a little while later.

DarkProphet · Sep 15, 2005

I just replaced them two weeks ago though. When i was doing my compression test, i noticed that the #2 spark plug was alot cleaner then the rest, so Im thinking that thats the only cylinder that is leaking. The rest were coated in black carbon due to running VERY RICH, but #2 was clean as a whistle... should have realized this whne i pulled the plug rather then waiting... o well thats what i get!

divit250r · Sep 15, 2005

When you say it loses coolant, how hot does it get? With the t-stat backwards, it could have gotten hot enough to crack the heads or block, couldn't it? This is definitely the worst case scenario for what's causing your problems, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet and thought I might throw it out. For what it's worth, you aren't re-using stock head bolts, are you? They're not made to be re-used.

Scott

DarkProphet · Sep 15, 2005

according to the stock gauge, it stayed around the N in normal, but I have a 160* stat in it which might have actually opened up due to the temp around it, even with it being backwards.

Im not reusing stock head bolts, im using ARP head bolts, but I actually just broke one off in my head.... so now im pissed

CManT1914 · Sep 15, 2005

DarkProphet said:
but I actually just broke one off in my head.... so now im pissed

Shoot dude, you can't catch break can you? At least you didn't drop a fuel rail bolt down in your distributor hole. My friend did when we replaced my head gaskets, fortunately, he was able to fish it out with a magnet. PHEW!!

If that one plug was clean, while the others were black, that cylinder is most likely getting washed with water/coolant. That was the case with mine. When I pulled the heads, #1 cylinder was real clean with white patches, and the rest were coated black. I doubt you got hot enough to crack the heads or block, but you never know. It's actually a good thing if your head gasket lets loose before something else happens. FWIW, I think when I blew my head gasket, it was because of not having my coolant system burped. I had a lot of air pockets in it, and I think it heated up (it happened REAL fast) enough, and the air was pressurized enough that the HG just let go. I could be wrong, but that's what I think happened.

DarkProphet · Sep 15, 2005

I think thats what happend with me too!, plus my thermostat was in backwards....Do you think ill be ok just replacing the one head gasket? or should I replace both?

CManT1914 · Sep 15, 2005

DarkProphet said:
I think thats what happend with me too!, plus my thermostat was in backwards....Do you think ill be ok just replacing the one head gasket? or should I replace both?

Might as well replace both. It's not much more work to pull two heads than it is to pull one.

DarkProphet · Sep 15, 2005

actually, I thought the drivers side was alot more of a pain then the passengers side when i did them a week ago. This is just starting to make me mad, cuz i have to buy new arp head bolts, another 80 dollars in gaskets and more time...

5spd GT · Sep 15, 2005

You should just need the ARP bolts and gaskets. What makes the job of doing the other head harder is not removing the head but taking more time overall, removing the power steering (depending on side), headers, and resetting the valvetrain, undoing grounds/connections. It is a bit more involved but I would rather you match gaskets personally Keep it the same...

DarkProphet · Sep 15, 2005

well im using the same gaskets. And the other side was done a week ago. Well actually both sides were done a week ago, so this is round two haha

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