Need help - timing cover and water pump bolts

simpleman01 · #1 07-14-2017, 06:49 PM

Please help! I need (links to or post here) quality pictures and/or diagrams of which bolt goes where on the timing cover and water pump for 2000 3.0L. Thanks!!

The backstory-
So several weeks back my truck starting leaking coolant from the left side of the timing cover. Seems to be a common problem. Rather than letting it progress, I decided to fix it over the weekend. Probably should've researched a little more and believed what I read. In order to take off the timing cover I had to drop the oil pan (timing cover must slide straight off due to locating pins, oil pan gasket had small lugs sticking up and gasket was RTV'd to both oil pan and timing cover. Pan was stuck fast - RTV in corners wouldn't let it budge. After prying the pan down, discovered the oil pan gasket was damaged. Tried every way possible to remove the oil pan including lifting the motor and removing the steering rack and ps cooler. Somehow, inexplicably, the oil pan was sandwiched between the transmission inspection plate and the oil pickup tube. It wouldn't budge. I had to remove all the transmission bolts (another futile exercise, they were stuck so bad a 450 ftlb rated impact gun wouldn't spin two of them) to slide the trans back a full inch before oil pan released and came down. Since I was in this deep might as well do clutch, release bearing, pilot bearing, rear main etc so off came the entire exhaust system, down came the trans, and off came the flywheel. After two weeks of an hour here and there, life happened and work got busy. Now five weeks later I'm finally reassembling the truck. I have no idea which water pump and timing cover bolts go where. I thought it would go back together quickly and didn't bother to write anything down or snap a pic. Thank you for any assistance.

jim22 · #2 07-15-2017, 07:10 PM

Oh crap! I have the same problem with my truck, and I was NOT counting on having to drop the oil pan. Good luck, sorry, but I don't know the answer for you. Have you looked for Youtube videos at all?

NoPower · #3 07-16-2017, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim22

Oh crap! I have the same problem with my truck, and I was NOT counting on having to drop the oil pan. Good luck, sorry, but I don't know the answer for you. Have you looked for Youtube videos at all?

You DO NOT NEED TO DROP THE PAN!!!
I didn't on my ranger. Fel-Pro has a gasket kit for this job. I just did the same repair on my daughters 3.0 taurus, same set up, I repeat You do not need to remove the pan.

WVJefo · #4 07-16-2017, 08:31 AM

This hack may help. The bolt holes on water pump / timing cover are not open ended

Use a piece of wire to gauge the depth of the bolt holes. The deeper the wire goes the longer the bolt you need.

Next time use this trick. All you need is a piece of cardboard. As you take each bolt out push it through the cardboard. Top bolt on top of cardboard, left bolt on left, bottom on bottom, etc until done When you are done you should have a bunch of bolts in about the same pattern as how they are placed before they came out. Label the cardboard and stash in safe place.

NoPower · #5 07-16-2017, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVJefo

This hack may help. The bolt holes on water pump / timing cover are not open ended

Use a piece of wire to gauge the depth of the bolt holes. The deeper the wire goes the longer the bolt you need.

Next time use this trick. All you need is a piece of cardboard. As you take each bolt out push it through the cardboard. Top bolt on top of cardboard, left bolt on left, bottom on bottom, etc until done When you are done you should have a bunch of bolts in about the same pattern as how they are placed before they came out. Label the cardboard and stash in safe place.

Nice tip, I'll remember that trick.
Thanks.

Grumpa · #6 07-16-2017, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPower

You DO NOT NEED TO DROP THE PAN!!!
I didn't on my ranger. Fel-Pro has a gasket kit for this job. I just did the same repair on my daughters 3.0 taurus, same set up, I repeat You do not need to remove the pan.

Could you please summarize how you did this and where you purchased the gasket set from? This could be very helpful in my near future. Thanks!

NoPower · #7 07-17-2017, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpa

Could you please summarize how you did this and where you purchased the gasket set from? This could be very helpful in my near future. Thanks!

After pulling the front crank pully off and the 2 front pan bolts the cover pulls off with ease.
The gasket kit I got from advance auto. but all parts stores carry it.
It comes with Timing cover gasket, waterpump gasket, timing cover crank seal, crank pulley sleve, and goop to seal the bottom of cover to pan. Most parts store carry the Fel-Pro kit for around 17.00 dollars.. Since I had the cover off I replaced the timing chain set in both vehicles
only 35.00 dollars for new chain set. The set up on my daughters taurus was the same on my ranger. When takeing bolts out of front cover & waterpump & accessories make note of which hole EACH one came out of.

Grumpa · #8 07-17-2017, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPower

After pulling the front crank pully off and the 2 front pan bolts the cover pulls off with ease.
The gasket kit I got from advance auto. but all parts stores carry it.
It comes with Timing cover gasket, waterpump gasket, timing cover crank seal, crank pulley sleve, and goop to seal the bottom of cover to pan. Most parts store carry the Fel-Pro kit for around 17.00 dollars.. Since I had the cover off I replaced the timing chain set in both vehicles
only 35.00 dollars for new chain set. The set up on my daughters taurus was the same on my ranger. When takeing bolts out of front cover & waterpump & accessories make note of which hole EACH one came out of.

Thanks a bunch!

simpleman01 · #9 07-19-2017, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim22

Oh crap! I have the same problem with my truck, and I was NOT counting on having to drop the oil pan. Good luck, sorry, but I don't know the answer for you. Have you looked for Youtube videos at all?

I ended up finding a good photo at the 6:20 mark of this video

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPower

You DO NOT NEED TO DROP THE PAN!!!
I didn't on my ranger. Fel-Pro has a gasket kit for this job. I just did the same repair on my daughters 3.0 taurus, same set up, I repeat You do not need to remove the pan.

I'm glad you had an easier time than I did. Unfortunately my pan had to come down because the oil pan gasket (gray, high grade rubber texture, factory??) had a lip and tabs on it preventing the timing cover from sliding straight forward. In retrospect I could've cut the rubber tabs/lip off but it was still stuck tight with all the RTV in the corners. The oil pan gasket ended up getting damaged. Hopefully someone will read this and know how to proceed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVJefo

This hack may help. The bolt holes on water pump / timing cover are not open ended

Use a piece of wire to gauge the depth of the bolt holes. The deeper the wire goes the longer the bolt you need.

Next time use this trick. All you need is a piece of cardboard. As you take each bolt out push it through the cardboard. Top bolt on top of cardboard, left bolt on left, bottom on bottom, etc until done When you are done you should have a bunch of bolts in about the same pattern as how they are placed before they came out. Label the cardboard and stash in safe place.

Great suggestions and I ended up doing something very similar to determine proper bolt length. Lesson learned, even though I think it'll be a quick fix/turnaround plan for the unexpected.

I too used the Fel-pro kit and agree it is the way to go. Thanks again everybody