Hi guys, i've got an '89 dodge raider with a rebuilt 3.0 L engine that's leaking oil pretty bad from the front area of the engine. after looking at it for awhile, i'm pretty sure it's leaking around the front oil seal. i know the timing belt isn't supposed to get any oil on it, and i'm pretty sure mine at this point probably does. so i've picked up a new seal and timing belt, and i'm about to tackle this tomorrow. just wondering if any special tools are needed to get to the timing belt, get it off, etc... also, any tips on this project would be greatly appreciated as i've never done this before. thanks. jeff.

Jeff -

PM me with your email address.

Frank

While I'm waiting for your email address, here are some suggestions - others might have some more:

If you have an impact wrench, removal of the crank pulley bolt is easy. Otherwise, your biggest challenge in the job will be holding the crank rotation while tightening the pulley bolt during re-installation. Some use the old belt wrapped around the crankshaft sprocket.... some maybe use a torque stick on an air gun (do that at your own risk).

Check to see if you have the old style pulley bolt. It has a large barrel thickness the same diameter as the head of the bolt all along the bolt to the pulley. If so, get the new style. If you don't can't find the number, let us know. The old bolt has a habit of coming loose ar shearing and you don't want to know the consequences.

Should you find the torque specs in any manual for the pulley bolt, it's probably wrong. The correct torque spec (lightly oiled bolt and washer) was restated in a TSB at 134 lb/ft (+/- 3 lb/ft).

Get a new timing belt tensioner and tensioner spring while you're doing the job - it's cheap insurance.

When was the water pump last replaced? Consider it while you're doing the timing belt.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Good luck,
Frank

thanks, that helps a lot. i don't know about the water pump. everything else seems to be running great, except for the leak i don't know of any problems. i guess another question i have is, are there any tricks to getting the new seal to seat properly?

No, not really - IIRC the seal seats against a recess in the oil pump cover, but to be sure, look closely at the seal depth and the relationship between the seal and the outer edge of the oil pump housing before you remove the old seal. If there's no seat for the seal just drive it in to the same depth as the original one. Go carefully and a little at a time all around the seal housing until it's where you want it. Once it's started I find a large socket or a big fat drift pin and a tiny hammer does the job (a little at a time.

Before you install the new seal, examine the crank nose area where the seal lip makes contact and be sure there's not a groove. If there is one large enough to catch a fingernail, you'll need a speedi-sleeve. Likely it's fine.

Coat the seal lip and crankshaft nose with a light smear of multi-purpose chassis grease or assembly lube before you install the seal.

Good luck,
Frank

While you have the front of the engine undressed, look carefully at the cam seals to make sure they aren't leaking.

Frank

Alrighty, well, that was fun! After getting all that other stuff out of the way, i finally got down to the crankshaft seal, and cleaned everything up, let it sit overnight, and came back the next morning to find a nice pool of oil sitting underneath that seal. so that was definitely it. i checked the camshaft seals also, and they were dry. they don't seem to be leaking at all. so i installed the new seal, and began the reinstallation process. i checked the timing marks all around several times to make sure they were lined up, and put the new timing belt on. i had to turn the crankshaft pulley a bit to adjust the tension on the belt, but before i went any further i brought everything back in line, timing marks lined up. well, after finally getting everything put back together, i go to start it up, and it doesn't start! it cranks over just fine, but won't start, not even a sputter. suspicious that somehow the timing was off, a friend and i took the distributor cap off to see where it was pointing. we also took the top right timing belt cover off, lined that sprocket's timing mark up, and compared with the distributor that way. in the chilton, is says the distributor should be pointing towards cylinder #1, the front left. well, mine definitely wasn't. i think what happened, was through all the extra turning of the crankshaft pulley, i must have turned it a full revolution around, and even though the timing marks on all the pulleys should have been lined up, the distributor is off. does that sound right?

in a last ditch effort to make it work, we took the distributor out, and manually turned it so it faced the number #1 cylinder while the timing belt marks were lined up. but that didn't work either. so somehow in the process of everything, i must have misaligned the marks at some point. so tonight, i'm gettin back in there, redoing the whole thing. i should know this process pretty well by the time it's all said and done!

anyway, sorry for being a bit longwinded...are there any theories out there of what happened, and how i can avoid this the second time around? thanks for your patience and help!

jeff

Jeff -

You're on the right track on the ignition timing issue.

Look under the distributor cap and you'll see tunnels for #1 and #4 that alter the firing point in the distributor rotation. While #1 tower points to the passenger tire area, the firing point is actually toward the rear of the engine. With the crankshaft at TDC on the compression stroke, the rotor should point at an imaginary point on the firewall directly behind the engine. If you look at the distributor you'll see a dimple on the collar that you can align with a vertical mark on the housing - hold this alignment and set the distributor with the tang adjustment hole centered over the bolt hole. Release the alignment as the distributor drops into the cam gear and the rotor should end up pointing toward the rear of the engine.

Good luck,
Frank

Many of us have been down this road, in terms of that tricky dizzy... listen to the dude. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> He's hit the nail on the head.... again!

Alright, we've tried just about every position you can stick that distributor, and still nothing. i found a dimple down by the gear on the distributor, and the only verticle mark i can see to line it up with, on the outside of the housing, puts the distributor pointing almost straight forward, not back towards the firewall. if i line the dimple up 180 degrees to that, then the distributor points towards the back of the engine, but that didn't give any results either. what am i missing here? could you give a better description of the things you just talked about, like the tunnels, towers, verticle marks, and am i looking at the right "dimple"?