2001 express 2500 cowl removal?

[rangerone766]

i just bought a 01 express with a 4.3 and 185,000miles on it. i want to give it a full tune up, but i dont see any clips on the cowl to open it up. my old van was a g30 and opening the cowl was self explanatory, just unscrew a few bolts and open the clips. this one is eluding me tho.

it has a minor oil leak and water leak aswell, i traced the water leak to the water pump, and i'm hoping that the oil is coming from the timing cover. i plan to have the shop put on a new timing chain kit when i have them do the water pump. i figured once they have the water pump off its not that much more work to do the timing chain then aswell.

once i get the cowl opened up for a tuneup, if i find the oil leak is the valve covers. is there anything in there i should replace while i have it open? like new lifters, pushrods or rocker arms? or would those not match up with a worn down cam?

van runs great btw the only odd noises are coming from the bad water pump, no lifter ticks or anything.

about the oil leak. are the 4.3litre vortech motors prone to oil leaks elswear, like the rear main? i'm no mechanic, but if i know exactly what is broken, and i can remove the broken part, i can usally get a new part put on. but any deeper than that takes a mechanic for me.

sorry for the book i wrote, but i hope you can help me out.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by rangerone766

i just bought a 01 express with a 4.3 and 185,000miles on it. i want to give it a full tune up, but i dont see any clips on the cowl to open it up. my old van was a g30 and opening the cowl was self explanatory, just unscrew a few bolts and open the clips. this one is eluding me tho.

it has a minor oil leak and water leak aswell, i traced the water leak to the water pump, and i'm hoping that the oil is coming from the timing cover. i plan to have the shop put on a new timing chain kit when i have them do the water pump. i figured once they have the water pump off its not that much more work to do the timing chain then aswell.

once i get the cowl opened up for a tuneup, if i find the oil leak is the valve covers. is there anything in there i should replace while i have it open? like new lifters, pushrods or rocker arms? or would those not match up with a worn down cam?

van runs great btw the only odd noises are coming from the bad water pump, no lifter ticks or anything.

about the oil leak. are the 4.3litre vortech motors prone to oil leaks elswear, like the rear main? i'm no mechanic, but if i know exactly what is broken, and i can remove the broken part, i can usally get a new part put on. but any deeper than that takes a mechanic for me.

sorry for the book i wrote, but i hope you can help me out.

Just look it over and fix what is broke.
If you go hunting for bad things you may wind up replacing the hole van.
Good luck

[DFBonnett]

My '04 had a PS unit leak and a front cover leak off the get go and were under warranty. As far as removing the engine cover, look for the latches at the top of the cover on both sides where it meets the firewall.

[rangerone766]

got the engine cover off today. looks like i dont need a tune up, every thing looks new under there. i believe the little bit of oil i'm loosing is coming from the front of the engine. so i'm deffinatly going to get a new timing chain put in when i get the water ump fixed. and have the do a front main seal while in there.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by rangerone766

got the engine cover off today. looks like i dont need a tune up, every thing looks new under there. i believe the little bit of oil i'm loosing is coming from the front of the engine. so i'm deffinatly going to get a new timing chain put in when i get the water ump fixed. and have the do a front main seal while in there.

As said before if it is not broke do not try to fix it.
Hard to tell by looking if it needs tune up.
Check fuel pressure and dist cap and rotor and camshaft retard setting fuel filter and air filter and for good AC delco plugs.


On the oil leak find out for sure where it is leaking and how much.
The timing chain cover has front seal in it and can be replaced with out removing cover.
Timing chains last a long time.
Check slack in it and if no extra slack i would hold on it.
Good luck

[rangerone766]

when i had the engine cover off i pulled a few spark plugs out, they all looked good. no oil build up or ash on them. but they were ac-delco platinums and i couldn't tell how worn they were. the distributor cap and rotor button also looked good aswell as the wires. so i suspect it has had a recent service.

i just thought of doing the timing chain since having the water pump replaced got you pretty close to the chain. and the van has 185k miles on it. i have no idea if it was ever changed.

i bought the van from a lumber company that used it to deliver goods around the city. they said it had been regularly serviced, but could provide no records. i will say that the transmission fluid looked like the original fluid. it was so broke down it was honey colored.

i dropped the trans pan and put a new cheap autozone filter in it, and refilled. i plan to do that a few times till i can get the fluid to stay pink in the trans and eventually put a decent filter in. i figured no sense in putting a big money trans filter in if im gonna replace it in a month or two. i wish i knew how to weld so i could put a drain plug in the pan. i spent more time scrubbing the driveway than i did changing the filter. freaking trans fluid got everywhere, i need a bigger drain pan lolz.

again, i'm no mechanic. but i am pretty handy. i just need this van to last me till fall semester starts. i'm going to go to colledge and get out of the carpet install business. school cant be any harder than what i do now. i just hope i havent forgotten too much in the 15 years i've been out of school.

thanks for all the help.

[DFBonnett]

Originally Posted by rangerone766

i dropped the trans pan and put a new cheap autozone filter in it, and refilled. i plan to do that a few times till i can get the fluid to stay pink in the trans and eventually put a decent filter in. i figured no sense in putting a big money trans filter in if im gonna replace it in a month or two. i wish i knew how to weld so i could put a drain plug in the pan. i spent more time scrubbing the driveway than i did changing the filter. freaking trans fluid got everywhere, i need a bigger drain pan lolz.

It's messy, isn't it? I use this http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...t&keyword=pump to pump out about 3 + quarts through the dipstick tube into a gallon jug. I measure what came out and replace it with fresh in the same amount. No mess. Works on my Caddy and my daughter's Mitsu. Wife's Camry has a drain plug.

[rangerone766]

that pump looks like it has my name all over it. i had never thought of that before. ty for the info.