Tersel oil pan removal

[kitchman]

Not looling forward to this, but will be replacing the timing belt very soon and also the cam and crank front oil seals. In the event that the existing oil leak coming some where from the bottom of the lower t.B.cover is actually coming from the oil pump gasket and the cover need be knocked off, the oil pan looks like it has to be removed as well. How does it come off with out hitting anything?

[Petros]

worry about that if you have to do it, most likely source of leak is the front main seal.

yes, you have to remove the pan to replace the oil pump, you loosen the engine mounts and jack up the front of the engine a few inches and you can get to all the oil pan bolts (with some effort to reach the ones at the back over the front diff), than drop the pan a few inches, and than remove the oil pick-up. that allows you to wiggle it out forward. You can also unbolt the cross member and drop it to get a few more inches of clearance but I have found it is not necessary.

[kitchman]

Thanks Petros for your quick reply, I also hope its the main seal. strangly the oil leak started soon after the oil pan drain plug gasket and oil filter and change was done. A buddy suggested that a small hole be drilled in the metal outer area of the main seal, then insert a suttable sized self tap screw into the hole and use a cutting pliers to pry out the seal using the screw as a attachment point.
thanks again

[Petros]

popping the seal out is easy, you will have the front pulley out, it has the seal seat on it so you get a large gap between the seal and the crank. You can get a small screw driver behind the seal and pop it out. at worst you can make a tool by bending the tip of the screw driver (or a similar pry tool) about 30 degrees. Usually once you get the front cover off the sourse of the leak becomes obvious. could be the cam seal, the front main seal, or even the valve cover seal that leaks down in front behind the front cover. you might as well put in a new timing belt while you are at it, you have to take it off anyway and they only cost about $20. Good to know how old the belt is so you will know when to change it next time.

[keith]

The FSM shows that you have to remove the pan, but I found from experience that you do not, in fact it is not only easier to not remove the pan, you run the risk of damaging the new seal if you remove the pump, put in the seal and then try to get the oil pump back on over the crankshaft as I did. I ruined the first seal following the instructions, the second time I just used a dental tool to pull out the old seal and then just pressed the new one in with my fingers.

[Ace]

I have a 1983 Tercel with 3AC engine and my oil leak issues are mostly from the valve cover gasket, which I replace occasionally. I've never had to deal with the oil pan gasket. I've replaced the timing belt once.

For me, perhaps the hardest part of changing the timing belt was breaking loose the bolt that attaches the harmonic balancer to the crankshaft. Trying to 'lock' the crank with the car in gear and brakes on was too "springy". I ended up improvising a bracket from steel plate which I bolted onto the harmonic balancer using the pulley mounting holes, to more firmly lock the crankshaft in place to break the bolt loose.

I remember that the timing belt itself only cost about $15. The real cost of the job is the labor involved.

Additional edit: or better, use an impact wrench if you have one as mentioned below.

[xirdneh]

II ended up improvising a bracket from steel plate which I bolted onto the harmonic balancer using the pulley mounting holes, to more firmly lock the crankshaft in place to break the bolt loose.

a piece of angle iron (i used 2x2x1/8) about 3 feet long works
drill two holes on one end to match pulley holes
will need to file or grind out a bit of the angle so you can get your socket on the crankbolt
let angle wedge against car frame

[splatterdog]

I just pull the grill and shift the rad over. Then use an impact wrench with an extension and a swivel socket. If I'm going to be draining the cooling system too, I might even pull the rad and core support. Comes out pretty quick and makes things almost engine stand easy.

I also have one of these- http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-POWERBAR-HA ... 46&vxp=mtr

[ARCHINSTL]

splatterdog - that is an interesting tool!
How about taking a picture of it and another one in use and posting in the Tool Talk Forum?
Do you mean with this, the bolt can be removed by just removing the grill and shifting the radiator a bit?
Does the pulley need to be anchored as in using a breaker bar?
Is it also used for replacing the bolt?
Thanks,
Tom M.

[kitchman]

Thanks for all the responses!
What I discovered so far is that the old T.B. was in correctly and my not being able to get the timing to spec. must now be because the dissy. is not in correctly and will take care of that. The oil leak looks as though it is coming from the crank seal, found oil pooling just below it and after removing the seal it was found to be totally brittle. Planning on also changing the cam seal and curious if the #1bearing cap has to be removed inorder to replace the seal.
Thanks again

[Petros]

I assume you mean the cam bearing seal, no it does not have to come out, but it is easy to remove it and replace it if you want to get the old seal out without having to pry it out. it is a little more difficult to remove the cam seal than the crank seal because you have to fight a tool under the seal and pry it out, unless you remove the front cam bearing cap.

[kitchman]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
She is all done and running strong. The belt was off a tooth, but dissy. was not in propperly as expected.Repositioned the dissy. and was easily abel to set the timing at 5 degrees BTDC. The only glitch that was incountered, was a small coolant leak from the T-stat housing, which was solved by draining the system, removing the tacky gasket sealer from both the housing and the gasket and the applying a good amount of red high temp. RTV gasket sealer.
Thank you again every one for the support!

[Petros]

good for you. You might have saved some trouble with the t-stat housing if you read this thread on the topic called "when petros says to use RTV..." an entertaining story about leaky t-stats:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ys+#p50812