grafix43

i did the entire job and now there is a coolant leak which seems to be coming from the top right side of the timing chain cover.... i thought it was from that flange back there with the long pipe on it, but its above that so it must be where the timing cover meets the block..... goddamnit i dont wanna take it aprt and do it all over again.... and now coolant is in my engine mixed with oil so i gota drain everything.... would trying to start the vehicle like 5 times under this condition cause any damage? hopefully not. - steve

ayoung101

my first thought: how well did you scrape the gasket when you had it apart? i spent about 2-3 hours STRAIGHT scraping off the remains of the friggin timing cover gasket and i have no leak and it started right up. the only thing that i can think of that would cause it to not start up (assuming it ran good before) is if you moved the crankshaft vs. camshaft via the chain. in which case, do some more research before trying to start it up because it's an interference engine. what i did BEFORE i started it up (and before i put the accessories back on) is did a complete 2 revs by turning the crank with a wrench to make sure the pistons didn't hit the valves. did you make sure the crank is at TDC?

bike4miles

Yep, that kinda sums up what I did also. Lots and lots of prep work and cleaing of the cover and the front on the bock to the point that I could eat off it. Then I put sealent on both sides of the head gasket at the top and on the oil pan at the bottom. Then I pushed it in place and made sure there was no gap arround the edges (which may be whare you went wrong) and then bolted it on as quickly as posable. Black silicone seems to seal best for oil and coolant. Didn't have a singe leak. As far as not starting, did you place the distrubuter in the right place? I put mine at No 1 before so I knew to put it back at NO. 1 when I put it back together. Hope this helps. Keep us posted.

grafix43

thanks for both your replys. I did not spend hours scraping the gaskets, in fact i didnt even clean everything that great so that must be where i went wrong... i just assumed that once i put the gaskets and the sealent in there, when the bolts were all tightened it would smash it all in place and hold everything good, guess i was wrong about that...... as far as not starting up, we adjusted the distributor and the truck began to run.... after about 1 min we noticed the coolant leak so i shut down..... we looked for the leak then decided to start again to try and find it, it ran for a min and was leaking alot so i said ÅÅÅÅ it and shut it down..... i then redid a few bolts i could reach some of the bolts that hold the flange back behind the timing cover near the leak, i then tryed starting the truck like 6-7 times and it would not turn over again, and was making like a loud clanking sound after a few seconds of trying to turn over. I then took out the distrubutor gear from the head and noticed the oil inside was milky which means coolant is in there correct? could i have damaged the engine at all? the camshaft and crankshaft are aligned properly that has nothing to do with the cause, just wondering if i did any damage to my engine now..... if its ok im just gona re do the job and scrape the ˟˟˟˟ outta everything and make sure its clean. let me know what you guys think. thanks - steve

bike4miles

As long as you didn't run it for more than a mater of seconds it should be fine. I'd just re-do the gasket and change the fluids and strat it up again. Be really realy picky this time and you shouldn't get any leaks. My theory is, I care more about the job at hand than a mechanic would cus i'm not limated on time as much and therefore I shoud do a better job than a mechanic would do. That meands major cleaning and attention to deatail. Let us know what happens.

grafix43

well matter of seconds hmm, the first time it ran for about 30 seconds and the 2nd time close to 1 minute.... if it ran while coolant mixed with the oil and such am i screwed? do u think the loud clanking was like a piston hitting the head or something? im gona retry everything soon and hopefully it works out, and yes i will definitely take my time. - steve

ayoung101

i seriously think you just need to scrape the crap out of the gaskets. if you're sure the timing isn't way off and the pistons didn't crash into the valves, then your engine should be fine, but you'll still have a leak. you also said something about the chains cutting into the chain cover and breaking into the water jacket. that would most definitely cause the oil and the coolant to mix. go back and take a LOT of time scraping. see my post in your other thread about it as well.