Re: oil leaking
I have my O2 non turbo 2.4 Cruiser apart to do the timing belt and water pump, and new timing belt pulleys (tensioner and idler).
Incidentally, I am amazed at the price differential on these items. The dealer quoted something like $250 to sell me the tensioner and idler pulleys. Aftermarket Gates units (yet to be received) were just a hundred bucks for both. As for time, the dealer didn't have them in stock, either, so there was no time advantage to ordering the parts from them.
Discovered a little bit of engine oil sitting on the block ledge when I removed the rear timing cover. Car is at 107K miles.
I bought cam and crank seals for it, thinking that maybe I should change them when I did the belt, but now I am wondering if I should pull the head (unhappily, of course!) since it seems like the head gaskets are a problem.
And, if I do need to pull it apart, would I need other gaskets (besides the head gasket) and would I need a set of head bolts?
On the other hand, this car has not had noticeable drops in engine oil level between changes nor has it been leaving drips on the ground, so maybe it would go a long time before the leak would become a real problem.
That said, it's a long way back in to that timing belt area!
On an unrelated issue, I replaced the front control arm bushings with polyurethane units and I think they're gonna be cool. I like the way they're made and the way they installed. Then there is the issue of price. They were waaaaaaaay cheaper than new arms from the dealer. The arms on my car were fine (except for the bushings). I put grease fittings in and lubed the ball joints and they are nice and tight still.
One thing I have been doing is cleaning all bolt threads and coating with anti-seize. I was kinda surprised how much trouble I had getting some of the bolts out of the front suspension due to corrosion. Some of them took lots of back and forth with penetrating oil and lotsa patience. I live in the mid Atlantic so there is plenty of salt on the roads in the winter, but the car doesn't really show corrosion elsewhere.
Thanks to slarty for his helpful suggestions re taking the timing belt setup apart. Space is really tight in there!
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