Windstar timing cover leak?

[alofile]

Yes, you can jack up the engine so you have enough room to remove the water pump than the front cover.

[Winny_the_Pooh]

Alofile is correct - you do have enough room. You may have to hold your jaw just right to get everything to clear but it can be done.

LeSabremint97 gave a good tip - change the VSS while you have the exhaust off. I did not and I had to drop the exhaust again when I my VSS went out and threw a CEL with a P0500 code. It sucked dropping the exhaust the first time so it wasn't fun dropping it again (but you get a good bench press workout). The bolts on the yoke tend to splay out and it is a bear to get them to re-align with the holes in the "yoke" on the flared end of the y-pipe. I had to find a stiff pipe to use to bend them back straight enough to get the yoke back on.

Keep track of which studs go into which holes on the cover and water pump. I seem to remember that some are different lengths or different thread lengths. You can "double nut" the ones that are giving you trouble in breaking the initial torque.

The Ford manual is not really clear on which stud needs the thread sealant to keep from leaking. So, I sealed a couple of them on the firewall side to be safe (this was after one of them started leaking on me - another do-over task).

I also had to do-over the gasket to the water pump. It started leaking so I had to use RTV the second time in addition to the gasket. It was a good thing I got two gaskets in the material list I provided earlier.

I have info on the CMP position that I am trying to get posted to the web.

[alofile]

What gasket you are going to use. If you use the Felpro. Make sure you have the blue colour with rubber material. not the paper. They use the same part no. But I can tell you the harder part is how to take out the front cover when all of nut & bolt removed. I broke my cover when I took it out. Good luck.

[deathstar96]

I feel you don't have to jack up front of engine to get timing chain cover off for clearance of the water pump pulley from van frame work, Plus you don't have to drop the oil pan either, some people overkill a job! I was able to remove timing chain cover with water pump still intact along with the water pump pulley intact, maybe remove the bolts on the pulley and allow to let it float, you don't have to remove exhaust "Y' or oil pan either, why people make this job even more difficult than it needs to be?, you can just remove the few front bolts off the oil pan and allow separation from timing chain cover, yes you have to clean area and reapply RTV where it mates oil pan with timing cover.


I found that the area around the socket head bolt on lower right hand corner of timing cover to be the culprit on leaking oil so pay attention to that area. And you need to place all the longer studs/bolts in the cover before assembly as they wont clear the frame of the van after install, Ford is famous for short cuts on quality and poor engineering. You must place teflon thread sealant on the longer bolts/studs that are surrounding the water jacket ports, especially the lower stud on the firewall side. there is 4 of these studs in all to pay attention to for sealing. Pay attention to cam sensor orientation and priming oil pump should be paid attention to, maybe just packing the oil pump gears with Vaseline and filling oil filter with oil maybe suffice to prime? At the time Im writing this I was successful of removal of timing chain cover and ready for reinstall and will update my results and advice to confirm success without removal of water pump, oil pan and jacking up the engine like some other post mention. This is a problem for 3.8 liter engines leaking oil at timing chain cover gasket and make sure you do get the new and improved blue rubberized gasket instead of the old school black paper type gasket. I cant believe more write up are on this problem area, my engine leaked oil like sieve so bad I had to stop driving it.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND PERMATEX ULTRA BLACK RTV for this job!

[12Ounce]

Originally Posted by deathstar96

.... I was able to remove timing chain cover with water pump still intact along with the water pump pulley intact, maybe remove the bolts on the pulley and allow to let it float.....

That reads like a good idea. Thanks for the tip!

[deathstar96]

wiswind we are in need of your help again, my timing cover still leaks oil like a sieve even though I replaced gasket and shaftsseals a couple years back, I didnt pay much attention to sealing bolts threads and I feel but not sure thats the issue, anyone have any comments or input on lots of oil leaking from this area? I dont have coolant leakage issue just oil.

[tomj76]

Not wiswind, but I might have a suggestion as to where to look.

You need to try to find the source of the oil leak... is it high or low, along the sides or around the crankshaft pulley?

Can you put the vehicle on ramps and idle the engine to check for the leak? It might help to clean everything as well as possible so that you can distinguish new oil from old.

It might be coming from the front seal/harmonic balancer. When I took mine apart I found there was a groove worn into the harmonic balancer sealing surface where the oil seal makes contact. I've read that this groove allows oil to leak past even a new seal. I've put a repair sleeve over the harmonic balancer surface to eliminate the groove.