My leaking timing cover repair is starting to get expensive. It's dripping some coolant so I need to replace the gasket. While I'm in there I'll replace the water pump, serpentine belt, crank seal (and any other seals) and most likely the timing chain/gears (I'll see how loose they really are).

Now I'm thinking about the oil pump gears. I see a kit for sale with 3 gears to replace. Has anybody used one and what's involved (if I already have the timing cover off)? Is it worth doing (I've heard of the outer ring breaking - it does look rather thin)?

If I do the oil pump repair or just replace the timing cover gasket, do I need to prime the pump when I'm done with this project? (i.e. pack with vasoline or whatever they do)?

 

when I pulled mine off to replace the gasket I also replaced the timing chain & waterpump, I did not replace the oil pump as it only has 80k on it and other the 03 and 04 I did not see anyone say oil pumps were a problem. My truck sat overnight with the oil pump/front cover and oilpan off and I did not have to prime it before starting the oil preasure came right back up.

 

I would suggest you buy the oil pump kit from British Parts of Utah, it is an easier replacement and them fill the pump with Vasoline or prime it in some way.

 

Yes British Parts of Utah is where I saw the gears, most places don't seem to have them or are no longer available. Not sure why. They do break, I don't know if they get fatigued or maybe it's only an issue with that 2003 bad cover misalignment issue that eventually breaks the gear. If it's a little involved getting them in and out I might leave well enough alone.

 

BTW the oil pump gear replacement is pretty obvious once you get in there. I took them out, cleaned them up, decided they looked fine and put the back. Don't fix what isn't broken I thought, I didn't want a problem with the new one's fitting. I packed it with engine assembly lube mixed with gear oil, vasoline just didn't seem right to me.

I replaced the timing gears although I wasn't terribly happy with the new gears (didn't seem as good a quality as the originals). The new chain only seemed slightly tighter than the old. Oh well.

 

Hey, thanks for your comments... I have some problems with my '01 Discovery II oil pump., and I already saw the gear repair kit...but I not sure that it is for repair the oil pump.. now, after reading this post I going to buy it and repair my oil pump... Thanks again, and I just sign up to this forum...see you

 

see Oil Pump Gear Kit W/Gaskets - Land Rover kits from Atlantic British, just add water pump of choice, old water pumps eventualy die, usually after fan clutch has been replaced (old one was weak, new one puts more load on old WP bearing and it starts to wobble). So maybe a new fan clutch ($50 chevy version in our tech secton). Here's pix of old water pump. Note scale from use of non-distilled water, and coating in old one from "stopz leekz". When they wobble they eat aluminum, which circulates thru the cooling system...

 

This place claims to have high flow pumps: Aluminum V8
PN: 201HV
I can't vouch for them, but may order one.

 

I'll bet those are for distributor vehicles. I wish the had photos.

 

The serpentine belt distributor engines take the one shown on AB's site. You can also get them from ebay.
I think PT carries them as well.