MeanGrn

got the dreaded gear cover leak and it's leaking big time, what kind of band aid fixes are there for this nightmare? planning on just putting a big tampon in there for now until i can figure something out. i dont have the time, money or resources to fix this thing right now. just not ready to do a complete front end engine tear down for this one gasket. and or pay someone over 1k to fix this.

gorms

Where's it leaking from? Taking out the front cover isn't all that bad, once the shroud and fan are out there's a ton of room. Nothing special for tools, can be done in a driveway and only takes a few hours taking your time. Front seal is the most expensive part, I thought they ran around $70 or so, and RTV works great instead of a gasket for the cover. If there's a hole in the front cover/case somewhere JB weld under a piece of sheetmetal or the like can work forever (just don't plan on it to) when cleaned up well.

MeanGrn

sounds like if i go that far to continue and make sure the front seal and all that are good too, sounds like this isnt that easy as it says you have to take the cam shaft out to do this job

gorms

If you can narrow down where your leak is coming from it might not be that bad. I got a bit confused with "gear cover", which I assume to just be the front (flat stamped steel) cover, if its the gear case that's cracked then yes it's a bigger job! I do remember reading on here though (different forum I think) that there's a way to pull the cam gear off so the shaft can stay in the motor. If I were you I'd pull the cover and see what you got, because you may get lucky with where the hole (if any, KDP issue?) is, and a good bandaid might get you another year or two.

MeanGrn

i think i got it, i found a couple loose bolts on the vacuum pump and sealed up that front case cover a little, i hope i stopped it

scook6

I hope tightening your bolts fixed it. The gasket behind the gear housing was leaking on my 2002 and 800.00 later it's fixed. Part of the gasket went away. The good thing is I had my dowels checked and they were fine. There does not appear to be any band-aid fixes for this problem if that's what wrong with yours.