No Leak No More

Finally, the timing chain cover was in sight. In this shot, the crank pulley has already been removed. Even with the spilled coolant dripping down it, it's obvious that this cover has been leaking for some time.

Mike then used the proper puller to remove the harmonic balancer.

Taking a brief detour from the timing chain cover, check out our harmonic balancer (left). The rubber is shredded, and if it had gone much longer, our balancer would have come to resemble the one on the right. At this point, the balancer can actually wear a hole in the timing chain cover. We took a trip down to the Chevy dealer for a replacement.

Now, the way is clear to remove the timing chain cover bolts. The next part of the job takes place at the oil pan.

When it comes to the oil pan/timing chain cover junction, you've got two options. One is to loosen the front oil-pan bolts and drop the pan just enough to allow enough clearance to remove the cover and install a new rubber gasket. Since we switched to a one-piece gasket, the entire pan had to be dropped. Here, the oil has been drained, the converter cover removed, the starter loosened and moved, and a small brace set aside.

All that remains is to remove the pan bolts and pull it free.

In this shot, the groove in the timing chain cover is clearly visible. The oil pan fits into this slot, with a rubber gasket sandwiched in between.

With all the pieces out of the car, and a new four-piece gasket in place, the traditional setup is easily visible.

Here's the gasket we used, right alongside its ancestor. We've outlined the advantages of this design above, but note that this piece is equipped for either left- or righthand dipsticks.