Do I HAVE to replace my timing chain cover gasket now?

[jaymac]

Synopsis:
I have a broken water pump bolt. It is broken off inside the block. I consequently have a leak coming from in between the block and the timing chain cover.
Will it be enough to fix the broken bolt and torque it down, or will I always have a leak in the timing chain cover now due to the gasket being compromised by the coolant leak?
How much of a PITA is a timing cover gasket swap once the water pump is off?
Thanks
J

 

[timewarped1972]

not sure how you'd be able to get the bolt out with out removing the timing chain cover but to answer your question, if the water pump is already off your half way there......the biggest pain is the oil pan to timing cover surface.....then theres do you want to replace the front seal in the cover, then, while your there, see how the timing chain is......ok, i'm not helping i'm giving you more stuff to replace, lol....
i'm sure someone in here has a good link or write up to just replacing the timing cover gasket.....it's not hard it just takes some time...

 

[jaymac]

Well, jrichker has given me a prats list of all the tools I'll need to "most likely" be able to remove the bolt w/o removing the timing chain cover, depending on how deep it is.
I've read the gasket swap info in my manual, but was just wndering real world terms how much it sucks.
Do I have to drain the oil?

 

[timewarped1972]

no you dont have to drain it, but you may want to afterwards just because when you pull that front cover off, the first inch or two of the oil pan is exposed, and stuff can fall in there when your scraping the gasket surface ( try and cover it with something.
if memory serves me correct, you have the obviouse bolts you see holding the timing cover to the block.....then, theres the bolts on the front edge of the oil pan that go into the cover. once all those are removed it should come off.
also, when you ready to put it back together, use some rtv sealant on those end pices they give you in the kit for the oil pan to cover surface, and make sure you get it in the corners. sometimes thise gaskets don't match perfect either so some trimming may be required.
as for the bolt, did the head break off with the shaft stillsticking out??

 

[jaymac]

Nope, it broke off right in the middle of the threads, mostly in the block itself. So there's only about 1/4" or less left in the block/timing cover.
And there's not even any thread left to grab a hold of and put another bolt w/ washers in there...

 

[timewarped1972]

yeah that sucks.....those things are kinda notorious for doing that, and fords whole water pump timing cover design is.....well......lets say chevy had it right....
looks like you'll be taking the cover off anyway......the biggest obsticle is getting that bolt out, after that you'll be fine if you can get that out. you might wanna buy all new water pump bolts, chase the threads in the block with a tap, and use some anti seize on the bolts so it doesn't happen again....

 

[Dbeck002]

I had this scenario happen to me when doing my HCI swap.


I broke a water pump bolt in my block, exactly as you described, right at the threads with less than 1/4" of bolt sticking out of the block.

Heres what you do:

Preperation:

When i was doing this i had all my brackets removed and block drained of water (do not drain oil when doing this).

You will be exposing 15 year old gasket and the timing cover to block mating surface, you will need to scrape off the gasket material slowly with a razor and cover the oil pan with a towel and lots of tape. This is just preperation for the new gasket, we havent gotten anywhere yet.

the timing cover requires 2 small steel pins to line up the cover to the block, you might need new ones, they are a couple bucks.

Scrape off every surface that requires gasket.

Now for the bolt, you will need to buy PB blaster (its just a spray can). You will need to spray the bolt every 20 min or so with this stuff (do it 3 times) and let it soak in for at least 3 hours. Get a pair of vice grips and tighten them down on that bolt as hard as you can. Try break it loose.

If the vice grips slip you must STOP because youll get nowhere. Try this first and come back if you cant get it out with the vice grips, i will explain a good method for drilling it out.

 

[jaymac]

Well, how about the whole EZ-out thing? That was my original plan - jrichker outlined the steps for drilling, EZ-outing, etc.
Where do I get those steel pins, anyway?

 

[jaymac]

I could also just weld a bar on to the end of the bolt and twist it off. That's what we did to get the original broken bolt out. Weld on a bar, and apply a torch to the block/timing chain cover and wd-40 to the end (seperately, of course), and work it back and forth for 20 minutes till it cam out.
Then, unfortuantely, i did not hav e long-shank ta, and could not clean to the bottom of the threads, which is how I ended up here.... ;(

 

[jaymac]

Back to the original question, though: if I can remove the bolt w/o puling the cover, has the gasket already been compromised beyond acceptable levels?

 

[TomCat]

I think the gasket will probably continue to leak if you leave the cover on... just take it off! It's really not that bad at all. As far as the aligning dowels go, I just pulled mine out. They were causing more headaches than help. Worked out just fine in the end! Oh and ontop of the gasket, I loaded it up with black RTV.
Easy outs are easy to use, but first try Dbeck's method... it's exactly what I did and it worked on all 3 broken bolts. Anyways, while you're in there, check out your timing belt and gears.

Good luck!

 

[jaymac]

cool, thank you guys -
J