3rz, head is off, Can I do the timing cover seals without doing the oil pan seal

While the head is off I'm trying to do as much as I can to refresh the engine. I want to do the timing cover seals, but I was hoping to skip the oil pan seals (since it looks really time consuming and not any easier now vs later). Is this just my wishful thinking?

 

Short answer is no

 

err... So no I can't do the timing seals with out the oil pan seal, or no it's not wishful thinking?

 

I did this not long ago because my timing seals were leaking. As mentioned by speaedytech...no. You have to drop the oil pan to get the timing chain cover off. Also the if you have 4x4 you have to remove the front diff to get the oil pan down. All this is not difficult, just very time consuming.

 

You have to drop the oil pan to remove the timing cover. The oil pump pickup will need to be disconnected to take the timing cover off, and to do that you have to drop the oil pan to reach in there.

 

You don't have to remove the front diff to just separate the pan and take the cover off. I did my balance shaft delete kit without taking the pan completely out. Just separate it and let it rest on the axle while i reached in and took the oil pickup off. I have a 3RZ 4x4. There is a youtube vid of someone taking the entire front axle out to do that job and I laughed.

 

Ah...I didn’t try that. Everything I read before doing mine said to remove the front diff. I was planing on doing gear as well so I was planning on removing it anyway.

 

Correct, in order to completely remove the pan you have to drop the axle, but to just separate it and get the oil pickup off you don't have to. 10mm 1/4 drive ratchet to take the 2 nuts off the pickup. The oil pump itself was a pain though, the screws were phillips heads and I had to use an impact screw driver (manual one you hit with a hammer) to get them out without stripping them. Went to ace hardware and got them all replaced with Allen heads.

If you're doing gear as well then yea, you gotta pull it anyway =P

 

How was the balance shaft delete? I mean I really don't mind taking the engine out either, it's not bad but if I could leave it in and not have it be that much harder why not right.

 

How do you have enough room to properly clean the pan to get a good seal when bolting it back up?

 

It was a pain only because of the oil pump bolts/screws and they were stripping. Had to come up with some ingenuity to get them out which took time. Also, cleaning up the oil pan and re-sealing it took some time... and to answer boostedka's post VVVVV

I had about 1 to 1-1/2 inches of clearance between the bottom of the block and the pan. I used a hook style razor blade or like a half moon more like to scrape the pan and the bottom of the block towards the outside to get as much sealant off as I could. I then used brake cleaner on shop towels and wiped both surfaces. (obviously making sure nothing drops IN the pan). I then used RTV silicone and put a fat bead on my finger, reached in, and started applying one finger amount at a time all the way around the pan to make sure to have a thick layer. This took a long time but in the end I put the pan back up and star pattern tightened up the bolts...ended up with no leaks. One thing I would say that will help is if you unbolt the rear trans mount cross brace from the frame and support it with a jack allowing you to tilt the engine forward (by jacking the trans slightly up) and backward (lowering the trans slightly).

Either way...got it done. No leaks and no issues post procedure.

 

I would suggest you do them both.

 

Well now that I'm in the middle of it, I can't see how you managed that. I can't get at the back bolts. Tilting the tranny to contort my self to attempt this seems like more stress than it's worth. I'm just going to drop the diff. What I really wish I'd done at this point is just pulled the engine. oh well there's always a next time.

 

Hmm, I did install brand new engine mounts shortly before that, perhaps old mounts allow the engine to sit lower? Just thinking out loud. I just know it worked for me.