Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) 01 w/bad oil leak

[hbowers]

I got an 01 in my shop w/ an extremely bad oil leak on drivers side of engine. it had been leaking for some time. whole underneath was saturated. oil was even dripping off of back bumper.

turned out to be pushrod cover gasket was hard and brittle. broke in several places. truck has 254k mi. this is the 2nd one I've seen like that.

 

[TPringle]

I replaced mine too. It was leaking a little, decided to tackle it while I had things apart. Kind of a pain to get to, but I know I saved a redo down the road. When I took it off, it came off in pieces like yours! Sounds like this is going to be a common/normal repair. Might be real good advice to tackle this when you are into the injection or vaccum pump as a PM.

 

[hbowers]

thats a good idea. If you have to replace your vp44 you might ought to replace that gasket. just because.

 

[WSHall]

Does anyone know the torque spec for the bolts in the pushrod cover. I can not find anything in my service manual.
Thank you,
Shawn

 

[hbowers]

18 ft pounds I think

 

[hbowers]

I think it's a good idea to clean the cover real good w/brake cleaner, also gasket surface on block, then I use 3m weather strip adhesive
to glue gasket on cover. then let it set. other wise the gasket might slip out from under the cover. or part of gasket when you tighten bolts

 

[Sticks]

Yeah, I did one on a buddies '99 (650k miles) last fall. Same thing - glad I got to it before he took it to a shop that told him it was his injection pump that was leaking. IIRC 2 hours start to finish. I think I screwed myself on flat rate time though. Don't have access to the time scale anymore.