I was under my truck tonight, adjusting my steering gear after being told that it was loose, not adjustable, and needed to be replaced. Anyway, I noticed that the line of the timing chain cover gasket was green, and the green crud was, of course, dried antifreeze. There was nothing coming out from under the water pump pulley and the gasket around it was dry, so I don't think it's involved. Does water run through the timing chain cover anywhere? Or is this likely to just be coming from the thermostat cover? There's no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil, and it doesn't seem to be using coolant.

 

the timing cover sits between the block and the water pump, and yes, coolant does run through 2 big water channels at the top. so it is possible for it to leak.

i'd just keep an eye on it and see how bad it really is. monitor your coolant level in the overflow tank, and also peek inside radiator when cool. if you have no milky oil, and no uncontrolled coolant loss, you might can live with it until you need a water pump, or front seal, or plenum repair, or timing chain...

 

Yep, coolant runs through it. Depending on how many miles you have on it. Now might be a good time to replace that gasket and check out the timing chain. I wouldn't wait until something else breaks to fix it.


.02

 

I agree with Vaughan....monitor the coolant and see how bad it's leaking. You don't want to pull the chain cover if it's not leaking.

 

And here I thought I had all the coolant leaks fixed by replacing a leaky radiator. Meh. The thing that made me think that it might be from the thermostat cover is that the green goes all the way down the line of the timing chain cover gasket, starting higher than I can see from under the truck. I tried to see if there was any coolant around the thermostat housing, but I couldn't get a good look down there.

I guess I could replace the thermostat. The truck has 90k on it and I'm not convinced that the thermostat is working properly anyway. I don't have the time and space to do the timing chain right now, that will have to wait until spring, but I'm sure it's ready to be replaced too.

 

Like you said, the truck is leaking so you might as well replace the water pump
and timing chain while you are in there. If you have around 100,000 miles or more
those items are probably shot anyway.

Cost from summitracing
Water Pump: $75.95
Timing Chain: $45.95 (Comp Cams or Cloyes)
Gasket Kit: $26.39

Total Cost: $148.29
Knowing that your $h!t ain't broke: priceless :-)

 

Yeah, you're right. It all does need to be done. I might as well get the Hughes Plenum kit too. I saw a little pooled oil in there. The truck is running fine (for now) and there's no vacuum in the crankcase, but it is using a little oil (1.5 quarts in 3000 miles) so it will become a big problem shortly.

The most I've torn into an engine before was when I replaced the lower intake manifold gasket on a 2000 Grand Am 3.4L V6. That was an incredible pain in the *** and took me about 12 hours. I hope that this job won't be that rough. At least I won't have to spend the whole time bent over with my big old gut giving me a backache.

 

I just Completed..well mostly Completed that job. The haynes manual should have a big RED warning on it. YOU WILL tear your oilpan gasket when you remove the timing chain cover if you have over 110k miles and or your engine ever ran hot for any period of time. The timing chain and cover are a breeze. Maybe five hours tops for a novice with little experience but the oil pan gasket is another story in fact I am on this forum today to try and figure out how the hell to fix that. It seems that you cannot drop the oil pan without raising the engine.

If anyone can tell me where specifically to attach the hoist to raise the engine on a 1998 Ram 1500 4X4 5.9 litre I would be very appreciative. Haynes says specifically not to attach to the intake manifold. I would like to do this without taking all the accesory brackets and altenator/compressor off if possible. I only need to raise it about four inches. Or if you have neat little trick for getting the oil pan free without rasing the engine then I am all ears as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

Is there any way to slip a razor blade or something in between the chain cover and the oil pan to free the gasket from the cover so it doesn't tear? Having to deal with that too after dealing with all the work of getting it apart would suck.

 

You just need to be careful and gently wiggle the it after you get the cover separated at the top. And besides that, once the TC cover is off , it is pretty easy to replace the front oil pan gasket.