Timing Chain Cover Refit

[Richard G]

Bit of an awkward job, replacing Chain Cover with several gaskets to line up. I have it all fitted but have sump to deal with as the original sump gasket extends under cover plate and i had to cut it off at block. Trying to slip in a replacement gasket or maybe rely on an instant gasket sealer.
Any Tips?

RG

[jakesmig]

Mine has an RV8 in it but the principle is the same, I tried every way I could with the engine in, even tried dropping the crossmember so I could drop the sump. Every way I tried was successful to an extent but always resulted in an oil leak . The only way I got it to seal completely was to take the engine out, drop the sump, fit the cover, sump & refit the engine. I carried out the work to coincide with an oil change which at least saved some time (?)

Whole job took 7 1/2 hours start to finish.

Taking the sump off, fitting the cover & replacing the sump took less than 15 minutes.

John.

[marshman]

When I have done mine I have slackened the sump bolts and knocked in a thin wooden wedge either side near the front to open up a slight gap. I then remade the front section of the sump gasket and bedded it on with some RTV gasket goo then fitted the timing cover. Once the cover is in place and loosely bolted up, remove the wedges and tighten everything up. If the sump gasket is not at its best you can inject a small amount of your favourite sealant in the gap before removing the wedges and retightening the sump bolts.

I have done it this way and have no leaks. One thing to remember is do not be tempted to overtighten the sump bolts. If you do you will just distort the flange on the sump and it will leak.

Roger

[wilf]

^this.
I dropped the sump just enough to gain some clearance. Cut up a new sump gasket to get just the front bit, Glued the new bit of the sump gasket to the sump, then used shim steel between it and the timing cover, ditto for the head gaskets.

Used plenty of gasket sealer at the sump gasket to timing cover joint.

Lots of jiggling about, take it really slowly, the most important bits to not mess up are the head gaskets,

i too ended up with no leaks, more luck than judgement I think.

[dickr]

from an older post I made

"when refitting the timing cover I was concerned about the rather sorry-looking sump gasket and I could not drop the sump significantly without shifting the steering rack, cross-member, etc. So I cut off a section of the new gasket to go under the timing cover and the exposed sump cover was thinly smeared with The Right Stuff sealant; then the gasket section put on with a smear of sealant on top. I then put a strip of Bake-o-glide covering the gasket on the jutting out part of the sump with the new gasket piece, a bead of the sealant was run along the top of the Bake-o-glide behind where the timing cover would end up and, as the cover was gently pushed back, the Bake-o-glide was eased out to the front to deposit the sealant bead into the back of the joint.
In case you have not encountered Bake-o-glide, it is a very thin, incredibly strong, almost untearable non-stick polymer usually used as a liner for cooking trays. It was also beneficial to relieve the inner corners of the timing cover to prevent them digging in to the gasket piece.

worth a try if you can get a suitable sheet of the polymer."

[jbuckl]

Cannot do it 100% without dropping the sump.
However, it is possible to get a result as per marsh mans advice.
it’s easy to muck up the head gaskets. Had that happen.
have had a few leak free results, but not always.
it’s possible to get away with dirko instead of the 3 front cover gaskets.
tee joints are bad.
some German car engines have x joints (bmw v12) even worse!!

[Richard G]

Thanks for all above advice, glad i am not the only one to find it an issue.

As i only removed the cover in search of a leak from i cant see where, and finding no problem there( i had engine out and reassembled about 5 yrs ago) cant chance creating a new leak.so will lift engine out and fit new sump gasket. Will try and see if i can lift engine enough to get sump. off but do not think that will work.
Suspect leak was on to exhaust downpipe driver side, replaced oil pump o ring maybe that sorted it. Why is there a standard and upgraded o ring ? (Rimmers)

[wilf]

You could also look to replace the oil transfer housing cover O rings - they also leak with age and the leak shows up on the oil pump.

[Richard G]

You could also look to replace the oil transfer housing cover O rings - they also leak with age and the leak shows up on the oil pump.

Good tip, seems a likely source of leak, will investigate.

[jbuckl]

The engine can’t be raised enough to drop the sump.
The cross member has to be dropped or preferably removed. The issue with removing the cross member is that once it’s off the car can’t easily be moved on its wheels as the track control arms are no longer attached.
managed to remove the sump before by ‘just’ lowering the cross member.