Oh NO!!... NOT the dreaded timing chain cover COOLANT LEAK! =:O

[fixizin]

DAY-um, put some AC Delco tracer-dye in the radiator, and looks like the upper passenger-side corner of ye old TC cover is NOT mated to the block as it's supposed to be... durn.

And what's with that "wandering" gasket I circled in red??????

(Big orange "Romex" is for the engine block heater... yeah, not a thing in Florida...)

I saw somewhere in passing (prob. not on TRS), that there was some Permatex product you could smear on there to buy some time????

 

[franklin2]

Just wait till you go to do this job and repair it, and try to get some of the bolts out. Fun fun.

 

[fixizin]

I

Just wait till you go to do this job and repair it, and try to get some of the bolts out. Fun fun.

I've followed the tribulations of my fellow 3.slowers for years on this issue... it's a VERY INVOLVED repair... Lordy!

... I may have to punt this job... any idea on the "book hours" on it???

 

[Shran]

Oh yeah... fun. I can't imagine it's any worse than doing it on a 4.0 (which I have done several) and those are probably a 6-8 hour job. It's not THAT bad... getting everything torqued in the right order and the timing cover aligned to the balancer is the main thing.

If you can get an OEM timing cover gasket, you'll thank yourself. I don't have a part number handy, I can just tell you from experience that those gray paper Felpro gaskets are pieces of crap and the OEM ones are substantially better quality.