The "Front Cover". Yes there is a gasket. If it took you one day to replace your water pump it will take you three or four to replace your front cover gasket. It looks like from the pic that it's been leaking there for along time, probably didn't need to replace your water pump. Ignore the timing chain and oil pump for now, your overwhelmed as it is.

Do not start your motor unless you want to replace head gaskets too. Like I said, your already overwhelmed, lets not compound that a thousand fold...eh. Where you bought your pump they should have a Front Cover gasket. Ask as many questions as you need until you feel comfortable with what needs to be done. I would assume since you tried to tackle the water pump instead of having a mechanic do it your strapped for that type of cash. Don't attempt to fix this until you are good and ready and have all the parts and tools to proceed. The hardest thing you'll have to do right now is remove the crank pulley if you only have basic tools.

 

The thing you are removing is the front or timing cover. Yes it has a gasket that will come with the oil pump. See Oil Pump Gear Kit W/Gaskets (8979K Same Fit As Genuine Part # ) - Land Rover kits from Atlantic British. The gasket is what is leaking. You may be able to just snug up the bolts on either side of the leak and it will stop. Don't use make a gasket. Item shown in attached from RAVE, it is item 13.

Doing this is a bigger problem than getting the fan clutch off, which probably took most of your time on the WP swap out. The big bolt on the crank shaft is the issue.

If you replace oil pump be sure to prime it with vaseline or it won't pump when put back together.

 

If you do this yourself you're going to get very dirty and frustrated. It's going to take longer and cost more than you think. If you can get through that, you'll be fine.

You'll be removing the front cover. It covers the timing chain, crankshaft timing gear, camshaft timing gear, and the oil pump is integrated into the cover. You'll have to remove a handful of other parts to get that cover off though. It's all in the RAVE.

You'll be draining the oil anyways, so coolant in oil wont matter.

The timing chain should be tight. If it's loose then replace it.

If the oil pump has cracks in it, it's obviously bad. Look for any other obvious wear. It's about $100 in parts to replace.

The cover uses a real gasket + RTV just like the water pump. That's described in the RAVE too.


Spray stuck bolts with liquid wrench. Use 6-point sockets. Don't round off or strip bolts. If you get frustrated, stop and take a break. Clean everything before reassembling, specially hardware.

 

Thank you!

In all fairness.. the water pump took me all day because I didn't have a fan clutch wrench (which I eventually rented from Auto-Zone) and because my father-in-law who was helping me screwed up the belt tensioner which we had to fix... haha.

Just so that I have this correct... should the process go something like this:

1)Drain Coolant and Oil
2)Remove fan, belt and water pump
3)Remove additional Front Cover bolts
4)Remove front cover and scrape off old gasket
5)Look around in there and not really know what I am looking at
6)Put new gasket on
7)Put everything back together
8)Refill with oil and coolant
9)Dance?

Am I missing anything?

 

There is more. Look at page 143 in the RAVE Workshop Manual. It's "ENGINE - 4.0 V8" -> "REPAIR" -> "FRONT COVER GASKET". It lays the steps out like you're looking for.

 

While you have it apart look at oil pump, and it should not look like this (cracks). You can borrow/rent a pressure tester and check it before AND after repair. Pressure tester attaches to hole where oil pressure switch is. Big issue will be getting the crank bolt and main pulley off shown in pix as you may recall it is below WP.

 

The RAVE mentions the LRT-12-080 tool for removing the crankshaft pulley... is that essential, or can this be done with more conventional tools?

I am considering trying to snug down the bolts as mentioned before going through the process of replacing the front cover... however, I am slightly worried about the possibility of coolant and oil mixing if there is an internal leak... thoughts?

 

It's helpful bust most do without it. I take an old serpentine belt, place it over the crank pulley, pinch it off tight with vice grips, take the other end and wrap it around the frame and secure it somehow. Then get the correct size socket, breaker bar, and possibly cheater bar to remove the big nut.

Check the oil for coolant. If it's there it's still leaking. It wont kill your engine immediately.

 

It would have done it by now. You can drain oil, look for milky color, if none, pour it back in (assumes recent oil change). There are a number of methods to get the pulley bolt off, including home made tool, bracing a long breaker bar against ground or frame and "bumping" the starter, using an old serpantine belt looped around the pulley and through a short pipe, forming a neckties around the pulley. That is pulled tight, the belt held at the far end of the pipe by vise grip pliers. Pipe rests against frame, then a long breaker bar or cheater pipe and bar are used to remove the crank shaft nut, wihich is about 180 ft pounds of torque.

By the way, when you approach fan removal this time, wrench on clutch to water pump bolt, pull up on fan belt, smak wrench toward passenger side sharply with a hammer. The sharply is the trick, long and slow just turns everything.

 

I already have the fan and water pump pulley off... unfortunately I just screwed up big time and broke one of the long bolts that connects the water pump to the front cover... how bad did I just shoot myself in the foot?