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Unless someone knows something specifically better for this vintage of Ford, I would go with Prestone G-05 mixed 50-50 with distilled water on re-assembly, I have had good luck with it in all-iron and particularly aluminum-iron engines.
I'd go with factory or Fel-Pro gaskets as well, not no-names, putting everything back together with new hoses, etc.
But you know all that stuff anyway.
Probably it's possible to repair the existing part by welding or even J-B Weld (don't laugh, it's amazingly good) but given the time and trouble involved in getting to it, I'd get a new or excellent used part if I could. But you knew that too.
The timing cover has a small escape path for fluid (not oil) to leak out. The path is between the plate/gasket/timing cover. The gasket does not seal the path. This is to allow your coolant to leak out in the event of a gasket failure, or corrosion of the water pump/backing plate. Obviously, you don't want water in the oil.
The timing cover has a small escape path for fluid (not oil) to leak out. The path is between the plate/gasket/timing cover. The gasket does not seal the path. This is to allow your coolant to leak out in the event of a gasket failure, or corrosion of the water pump/backing plate. Obviously, you don't want water in the oil.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
To confirm what I think you are saying, could this coolant leak be from a corroded-through backing plate of a rebuilt WP, do you think? Or would you suspect something else?
A soft plug corrosion issue in the front of the block which allows coolant to escape by way of the timing cover would mix the coolant in with the lube oil, I would think. Is there a path for coolant through the TC without doing that? To me that seems unlikely. Just wondering.
My 94 E-150 van is doing the exact same thing that yours was. At least it sounds like it. What did you find in the end that was causing your leak?
I bought a new water pump expecting that to be the problem, but before I tore it down, I wanted to pin-point the leak. I looked at the weep hole expecting to see anti-freeze coming out, but there was none. It appears to be coming out of the seal behind the harmonic balancer and I can't see anything leaking down onto it.
olyeyr74, yours sound similar to mine. Mine has been temporarily fixed with stop leak, but it could go out at any time so the clock is ticking. Let us know here how your repair works out, if you can, please. And good luck.
I have a 92 Ford 150 with a 351 which is leaking around seam between block and timing cover housing. I also just replaced water pump 6 months ago.
I've worked on a lot of Chevs over the years and can only guess regarding the route of coolant through Ford timing cover. But coolant must travel from the block to water pump though passages within the timing cover.
I think what happens is when you remove the water pump you are really removing the bolts which hold the timing cover onto block so the cover will flex away from block and tear gasket....probably there is a trick to keep timing cover clamped to block during a water pump replacement but since I've never worked on a Ford before I don't know how you would do this. I don't think there is anything wrong with timing cover.
Now removing timing cover is pretty straight forward, take everything off we did for replacing the water pump then continue with removing the timing pulley and remaing bolts.
The next part I don't know about and that is the oil pan attaches into bottom of timing cover and on a Chev you must loosen oil pan and pry it down a little in the front to allow space to remove timing cover. Some times prying the oil pan down destroys gasket....here we go again. At that point with pan pryed down in place using a pair of screw drivers we would squirt silicon adheasive into gap between block and pan. We also would replace the front seal for oil pan again siliconing it into timing cover prior to replacing cover, once cover is installed you would add a little more silicon to junction areas where pan gasket meets the front oil pan seal and remove the screw drivers and re-insert pan screws and tighten it back down.
This won't work if the oil pan gasket is a one peace gasket.
I don't know what Ford uses or if you have to drop the oil pan or not. This is my question to forum.
Donn has the best answers to this IMO. I'm currently building a 302, which is essentially a baby 351W. I believe they have the same timing covers. The timing covers on 3.8 V6's and the small V8's are aluminum and will eventually corrode and leak coolant. I think it will be more than a couple hours' job though, because a lot of stuff has to come off. While it is off, you might as well have a new timing set put on. These are only about $40 for the gears and the chain, and take an extra 15 minutes to R&R. If you're getting a new timing cover, steer clear of cheap Chinese-made crap, as I've had trouble trying to fit a front seal in them. Some are not cut properly. Spend the extra money on OE or something that is known to be reliable.
Bubba, you likely won't have to remove the oil pan to remove the timing cover. (I have changed a timing set on an old 302 Mustang.) You should be able to just remove 4 pan bolts, loosen the cover, and then carefully cut the pan gasket where it meets the block. Some timing cover gasket kits have the 2 scraps you need, and you can butt them as you said with the blue RTV. At the curve where the timing cover meets the oil pan, you'd use a black rubber gasket. Never had a problem with this route.
Not familiar with Ford as I'm a chevy man. Be as it may be don't believe water routes thru the timing cover. The cover is just that to cover the timing gear...not seal any water passages. Freeze plugs are at the side and rear of the block...not the front.
Generally any water leaking down the edge of the cover itself could be the small hole in the pump to show bushing wear/leaks to replace pump. Then again I would put a finger under the end of the hose to feel a drop of moisture which just might be a tightening of the hose clamp. This is the culprit in most cases with chevy. Can understand the tight qtrs next to the oil pan. Loosening the oil pan bolts NEVER!!!! in my life heard of such a thing and then going thru the silicone route ...heck NO. Guaranteed to have oil leak problems worse then the water leak. Makes NO sense.
Now with Chevy (it's been a while) recall that the bolts in the water pump had a different length on one or two and it was important to replace the correct bolt in the correct spot or there would be a water leak. or other problem. I would check that with the 351W. Steve
Thanks, guys, for the feedback. Problem is still not resolved for my son, though it is for me. Gave him the van a couple of months ago.
Since its not being driven right now - he's a commercial fisherman/crabber - its not a problem. He will probably tackle it this fall, after his Alaska trip.
Steve, we did use the "loosen front pan bolts" technique on our Chev racing blocks when we ran Nascar years back, and if one used the right silicon goop it worked fine for us. But in general I agree with your post.
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Cooant Leak 351 W
