[Twintzs]

I think my front timing cover is leaking where the cover meets the head. I have the motor out of the car. Is there a rubber gasket there or is it just silicone? How difficult is it to remove the cover and replace the gasket?

TIA,
Brian

 

[jer_760]

Just silicone. You need to take off the oil pans also.

 

[SENTRASER]

Thats the head gasket, a little slicone shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Twintzs]

Just silicone. You need to take off the oil pans also.

Do I have to remove the head too?

 

[SENTRASER]

Do I have to remove the head too?

Nope

 

[jer_760]

Nope

What he said.

 

[Cheezit]

WHERE IS THE STARTING POINT WHEN TRYING TO SEPARATE THE TIMING COVER FROM THE BLOCK???

I have removed all of the 10mm bolts and the upper oil pan, but the liquid gasket is very strong. WHERE DO I BEGIN TO TRY TO SEPARATE THE COVER FROM THE BLOCK? I don't see a lip or anywhere to get leverage to break loose the silicone.

UPDATE:
Beware of the upper-leftmost bolt that fastens the front cover to the block. It is easy to miss. There are ten 10mm bolts with permanent lockwashers on their shanks that fasten around the border of the front cover. There are also two other, slightly longer, 10mm bolts (without lock washers) that attach inside the top of the front cover. You will have removed 12 bolts in total when the cover is ready to be removed via cutting the RTV silicone. I used a paint scraper tool and started at the cover's base, where it meets the block, inserting it and tapping lightly with a hammer to make sure it had entered the crack. Try not to pry against either of the mating surfaces.