Coolant leak from timing chain cover?

[aeidian]

89 Ranger 2.9 4x4 with a gazillion miles.

Sprung a leak today and did some feeling around. I can't trace the point of origin on it. It's not coming from any of the hoses, nor the pump. Radiator is new, pump is new, most of the hoses are new. I do have a pretty noticeable oil leak coming from the timing chain cover, but now I wonder if it's leaking coolant as well. The water is running down the passenger side of the oil pan and dripping off. The motor mount on that side is wet. Looking up at the pump and hoses from the bottom I don't see any run off. Is it possible that water is somehow getting in the timing cover and leaking out of it? How would that happen?

 

[aspevacek]

It is very much possible. I know on the 4.0 in my ranger there was a slight coolan tleak between the block and timin gcover, what I did not know was the way it is designed it will leak to the outside of the motor and is designed ot not beable to leak into the motor. I was worried about coolant washing the bearings of and killing my fairly low milage motor. I tore it all down and desied to add a new water pump, front seal, fan clutch and fan while i was in there. check you timing chain out while you ar ein there as well.

 

[aeidian]

It is very much possible. I know on the 4.0 in my ranger there was a slight coolan tleak between the block and timin gcover, what I did not know was the way it is designed it will leak to the outside of the motor and is designed ot not beable to leak into the motor. I was worried about coolant washing the bearings of and killing my fairly low milage motor. I tore it all down and desied to add a new water pump, front seal, fan clutch and fan while i was in there. check you timing chain out while you ar ein there as well.

The timing cover and chain are just about the only things that have not been replaced in that area. The front main has been leaking for awhile as well, this was just the final straw to fix it.

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[aeidian]

Got it all apart, looks to be certain that it was leaking from the ports on the timing cover. Getting the cover off wasn't tough, just took some time to get all the bolts and such off. I was struggling to get the water pump pulley off, until I realized I didn't need to take it off to get the cover off, it'll all come off as one piece. Breaking the crankshaft pulley loose was another issue. Took a 3 foot breaker bar with a 4 foot iron pipe on the end of it, the truck in 5th gear, and some elbow grease. Hearing those crank pulleys pop when they come loose always scares me. Makes me think they busted off. Pulley came off with a puller, no issues. Got all the bolts out of the cover, and the front bolts on the oil pan, lifted and pulled forward and it came out just fine. I busted two of the thermostat housing bolts off taking it off and realized I didn't even need to take that damn thing off. I got one out with vice grips (and I think I broke my hand trying to get them to lock), the other is too short. Gonna dremel it off, probably try an easy out after. The tensioner and the guide for the timing chain are busted, ordered new ones. The chain looks fine, should I replace it anyway since I'm doing the guide and tensioner?

Also, I dropped a socket into the front of the oil pan trying to beat it onto the broken stud. That's a real bitch because it rolled back into the bottom drop off part of the pan. Guess I'm gonna have to jack the damn motor up and drop the pan so I can get it out. Maybe I can get lucky and stick a magnet down in there and fish it out from the front.

 

[Tedybear]

I love the magnet on the extender. That has saved me sooo much headache over the years.

As for the gears and chain? You're already doing so much work--just replace it as a set. Think about it, the gears run the chain....and eventually will get a wear pattern. Might as well do a clean job of it.

Best of luck!

S-

 

[aeidian]

I already ordered the guide and tensioner. Didn't see there was a set until after. Parts store sells the chain for like 20 bucks. There any special deal besides pulling the tensioner and guide and removing the chain and putting a new one on and replacing tensioner and chain?

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[aspevacek]

You need to slide the cam gear and crank gear off togetehr with the chain on them. Other then that it is pretty straight forward. Glad you found your actual leak , it just sucks it took so much work to get to it.

I just finished putting head back on my dads F250 (302 ) some one was in and over tightened many of the bolts. It all started by him trying ot replace the t-stat. Both Tstat housing bolts sheared off. I said pull the intake it would be easier to extract the broken bolts. Well as the intak ewas coming off 5 intake bolts snapped the other 7 were not even finger tight. Well I pulled the heads so I could remove the broken bolts in the comfort of my heated basement. So yeah I know how shit can snow ball fast.

 

[aeidian]

Well, the truck has been a daily driver for almost 2 years, and I have no idea when the tensioner and guide broke. It was running when I took it apart. Stands to reason that just replacing the tensioner and guide will keep it running. The issue is that no one stocks the set, I can get the chain but not the sprockets. I'm on a time limit here, this has to be done tomorrow. I can throw another 20 for a chain I know is in stock, but then someone's gonna say replacing the chain and not the sprockets is I'll advised right?

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[aeidian]

Do I have to remove the timing chain to put the new timing chain guide on?

 

[a31ford]

About the thermostat housing....

I had 2 bolts crust up (that white fuzz), The only that that worked was an acetylene torch and penetrating fluid between heating sessions, good set of "REAL" vice-grips" and a SMALL hammer..... If no torch.... drill and helicoil (another one I did).

Greg

 

[aeidian]

Do I have to remove the timing chain to put the new timing chain guide on?

It took some finagling but I got it to go on without having to take off the chain or sprockets, which is good because I spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to get that damn crankshaft gear sprocket off and didn't turn up anything. Reminds me of that horseshoe game from cracker barrel with the two horseshoes linked with a chains and a ring between them and you have to figure out how to get the ring off. Pretty sure the guys that invented that game were called in as tech advisors on this.

 

[aeidian]

About the thermostat housing....

I had 2 bolts crust up (that white fuzz), The only that that worked was an acetylene torch and penetrating fluid between heating sessions, good set of "REAL" vice-grips" and a SMALL hammer..... If no torch.... drill and helicoil (another one I did).

Greg

The bottom bolt is the one that snapped too close to put vice grips on. Bought a easy out and a drill bit today to give it a whirl. Dremeled the bolt stud flat, then punched it, then drilled it, then put in the easy out, and snapped it. I've never had an easy out that didn't snap. Every single one I've ever used goes in, then breaks off. Tried drilling it out and then I was gonna try tapping it and putting a bigger screw, but none of the bits I had could drill into that bolt anymore. Even the one I just bought didn't do shit after that first time. I gave up. I cleaned the surfaces shiny with a wire wheel and brush, put a coat of black rtv on there and stuck it on. Put the top two bolts in and I'm gonna see how it does. Ya, I know, I should have gotten the bolt out, but I can't spend the rest of the day trying to get that little shit out. I'll see if it leaks, then I'll go from there.

 

[aeidian]

I didn't realize that the tensioner needed to be installed before I pulled that little clip out that holds it closed. So I was looking it over and I was like "oh, I guess I need to remove that clip before I put it on".

Wrong.

Damn thing cocked out all the way, and of course it's not gonna go back. When I tried to get it to, the catch on the top snapped off.

 

[aeidian]

Got it all back together and pour antifreeze in it for it to just dump it on the ground. It's not coming from the timing chain cover, it seems like it's right above the passenger motor mount. There's no good way to get a picture of it, but it's coming from the block right beside the motor mount, what's in that area that could be causing it? Is that where the freeze plugs are? Odd place for them if it is.

 

[aeidian]

Well, after looking around I found this, where it appeared to be coming from:

After I wiped it a bit with a paper towel, it sprung a leak:

Is this a freeze plug? Someone I showed it to said yes, but it looks like it's just a circle stamped in the block when it was made. How does it come out?