Sorry, another question

[98SF19]

I'll try not to make it a habit . . .

I'm finally replacing cam seals and from posts here, I don't see a mention of putting on 2 of them, only 1. But when I got them from the store, it said 2 are needed. Is it the type of thing where there are 2 but it's a pita to do the inner one so people just replace the one on the water pump side?

Thanks

 

[E1]

Just the one. By the water pump drive.

 

[98SF19]

Thank you sir.
Is it as simple as it seems - remove water pump belt, remove cam pulley, remove half-circle bracket over cam, remove and replace?

Crankshaft seal will be next, which doesn't look bad on other vehicles (per youtube). Is it much different on a Gen 3? My neighbor has air tools and I'm sure I can find the pulley remover and reinstalling tools from store down the street.

 

[gamefanatic]

Remove the bolts on the pulley before removing the belt to make it easier. If it has come out already it should be easy to remove as was in my case. Avoid removing the half circle if possible, otherwise you need to scrape the silcone off and add new.

 

[98SF19]

Done. A couple days in and I see no oil on cam shaft between VC and water pump. Checkin that one off the list . . .

Took oil cooler off after oil change the other day and spent an hour last night trying to remove the oil pressure sending unit and/or the 30 mm hex from oil filter side. No dice, even with bench vice. Into a shop this AM and they got both off in about a minute. I let them have their moment and didn't mention that I'd put plenty of penetrant in the night before. Beyond this, I rented the kits for removing/reinstalling the crankshaft pulley. So that seal will be next. As far as rear main seal . . . hehehe . . . time to start saving up some $$$, not just for the parts (if they can be found) but also the labor.

 

[98SF19]

Question for anybody whose replaced the oil cooler o-ring . . .
I got the viton ones that Eric mentions, with 3/32" thickness, and they don't fill the channel width-wise nearly as well as the oem one did, and don't seem to provide much material over the sealing face of the cooler. Is this compensated for by use of permatex? I noticed there was no seal between the oil supply and return areas at the mating faces of ****** and cooler, so a bit of permatex by itself would probably be enough.

 

[E1]

If you look at the cross section of the factory silicone seal, it is rectangular. If you look at the new O ring, it is round. The idea is the round ring sticks up a bit out of the groove, and when you tighten the two sealing faces together, you get the round ring to crush a little bit.
I tried 1/8" rings in there and found the crush to be a little too much - forcing some of the O ring out between the faces and causing them to not meet well, thus causing a leak.
In theory, the O ring itself 'SHOuld' do the job, but the Permatex was just for insurance.

Tried re-Permatexxing the old silicone factory seal and never succeeded in stopping the leak.

Your mileage may vary...

 

[98SF19]

Thanks Eric. Kudos to YOU for doing those test runs so that I and probably many others didn't have to.
When you were running these initial setups, had you also loctited the center 30mm hex bolt when re-assembling? I'm all about permanent fixes, but I hesitate to use it, or at least more than a couple of threads at the base, just in case there's a small leak. Also, were there any issues with oil pressure sending unit leaking? Sorry to beat this to death, but I don't get much time to do the work, so I'd like to have my ducks in a row. I plan on reassembling tonight and reinstalling tomorrow night (applied o-ring & permatex last night).

 

[E1]

Use Blue Loctite then. ;-)

Oil sending units DO leak. Usually comes out the cap area when they do. No rhyme or reason for when they let go.

 

[98SF19]

I did use the red, but just a smidge.
Ok. Crankshaft seal's next. From this forum and the TCCA, it seems this is not a DIY project. I read where Nimz took his 97 to the dealer years ago and even some beefy dudes couldn't break the nut loose. They wound up doing the starter bump method, which I've read is the absolute last resort (it's amazing how much torque the high speed of the starter can produce @ flywheel - gear reduction at it's finest!).

Anyway, I have a neighbor with air tools, which I will use by default. Any tips are appreciated!

 

[98SF19]

Darnit. I thought the camshaft seal was all set, but during idling in driveway yesterday, noticed a sizeable puddle below oil cooler, which I thought was causing it. I was a bit relieved when I later noticed the camshaft seal (@ water pump) had backed out about a 1/4", nearly fully exposed to the eye. When I got it removed, I noticed an oily thread-like material peeling off the outter face. Not sure what this was.

Question: Is it critical that one use adhesive on OUTTER seal face and perhaps a bit of grease on inside face?

I did neither, but instead used alcohol to clean up entire area before installing new. My thinking was that the oil from front valve cover would provide enough lub @ shaft and that clean outter face of seal would hold well against a clean bore ID. None of the posts I read on here said much on this, so I didn't think it was critical.

(BTW I wound up having a shop do front main seal, as my neighbor did NOT have air tools and I didn't want to fennagle with the pulley gadget.)

Thanks!