Timing Cover Gasket Repair

[helpme]

How long does it take? Anything thing to look out for. I see Dorman has a kit for about $250. Thanks.

 

[Burnsy]

I've heard that to do it correctly you drop the oil pan ......some people dont and they just cut away part of oil pan gasket then replace it....it has to do with getting enuf clearance to remove the timing cover.....oil often leaks from that spot/shortcut.....mine does...I didn't do the job but had bought it from a guy who had just had a shop do it.....they obviously took the shortcut.....I don't know the exact logic of it but I have had two rangers with the issue, so have had discussions about it....someone will chime in with a more informed reply probably, but that's the jist of it

 

[Deiimos]

I’d say a few hours if you take your time and have everything ready. I’d set aside a whole day or possibly weekend in case I ran into any problems or just want to go slow, as I often do . Not horribly difficult though.

I don’t know anything about the Dorman kit.

I did not replace the timing cover when I did mine, just the gaskets. Perhaps inspect the harmonic balancer where the oil seal rides on it while it's off. I did not drop the oil pan, but you do have to remove the two front bolts if I recall. Was a bit tricky getting the timing cover back on with the oil pan gasket, but I did not cut it and eventually got it. I'd say this was the most finicky part of the job. Dropping the oil pan an inch or so might be the better route, I don't know.

This was on my 2001 3.0 by the way, not sure of any differences for the 94.

 

[helpme]

I should probably do the whole oil pan gasket at the same time.

 

[Deiimos]

Well, if it is anything like the 2001, you're supposed to lift the engine to do the oil pan gasket, which makes swapping the oil pan gasket is rather difficult (you can drop the pan slightly without the engine lifted, but it doesn't come out).

I unbolted the engine mounts in mine, jacked the engine up, but still couldn't get the oil pan out, had a few inches of room to finagle a new gasket in, but not an ideal way to do it and a real pain in the backside, I spent a few hours trying to fish the pan out with no success and had to move forward by sneaking the gasket under the oil pickup (again, difficult).

My oil pan leaked first, went through sneaking the gasket in there, then a couple years later the timing cover leaked. I didn't want to mess with the oil pan gasket again, it was still new basically, hence I did not drop the oil pan when doing the timing cover. That aside, would be a good time to swap it if you can.

Others can of course chime in with info and I hope they do, I'm not an expert, just repair stuff as it breaks.

 

[helpme]

The Dorman kit contains a new timing cover as the old one will probably be pitted. To slide the oil pan back you have to rotate the crank to get it past the counter weights that are on the crankshaft.

 

[franklin2]

Be careful. I see this engine can use a one piece rubber gasket. Hopefully the old one comes off in one piece. If the old one breaks up as you are getting it off, it's very easy to get pieces of gasket in the pan and they clog up the oil pump pickup screen. On the older engines with the cork gaskets, it's a frequent occurance to do this job and then end up with no oil pressure afterward.