3.0 L timing chain replacement

[pentode]

Yes, I had the water pump bolts out 2 years ago when I changed the pump so there shouldn't be corrosion. In fact, that's where the timing cover is slowly dripping coolant. Right behind the bolt that goes through the pump and timing cover, so I wonder if I weakened the seal on the timing cover when I changed the pump. What strikes me as a little odd is my torque specs on the water pump bolts is 84 in/lb (7 ft/lb) on all of them including the ones holding the timing cover. That seems a bit light.

Did you use thread sealant on the bolts that go into the water jacket? That's a must. Obviously you're using new gaskets right?

Yeah, I noticed the torque specs were fairly low, but bear in mind that it's aluminum and you just need to make a seal, not much more than that. I don't normally use gasket maker or sealant on paper gaskets unless the sealing surfaces are compromised and I'm too cheap to replace whatever component needs replacing, which is usually. But in my case I used an extremely thin (almost transparent) coating of Permatex Ultra Black on both sides of my gaskets and it's been rock solid and leak free for 6 months now.

 

[Lakewind]

Did you use thread sealant on the bolts that go into the water jacket? That's a must. Obviously you're using new gaskets right?

Yeah, I noticed the torque specs were fairly low, but bear in mind that it's aluminum and you just need to make a seal, not much more than that. I don't normally use gasket maker or sealant on paper gaskets unless the sealing surfaces are compromised and I'm too cheap to replace whatever component needs replacing, which is usually. But in my case I used an extremely thin (almost transparent) coating of Permatex Ultra Black on both sides of my gaskets and it's been rock solid and leak free for 6 months now.

I used new gaskets always, but I don't remember if I used thread sealer on the water jacket bolts. It's been a few years. I checked the oil today and it don't look like it's mixed with coolant. I've seen that ago years ago on another engine. The oil looks like milkshake on the dipstick. It emulsifies.

 

[pjtoledo]

your torque specs are off.
the 7 ft-lbs is ok for the small coolant pump bolts going into the aluminum timing cover. the bigger bolts & studs are 18 ft-lbs.
3 of them use sealant.

 

[Lakewind]

Yes, I had the torque specs wrong. According to your diagram some of pump bolts get 18 ft lbs. And I probably didn't use sealant on the bolts. With just the water pump removed I couldn't see where the pump bolts bottomed. They probably looked like blind holes. I did use perma-tex on both sides of gasket. Where can I get a copy of that book you have?

 

[pjtoledo]

Ebay. it's a genuine Ford manual.