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Or is it road dirt from 70k miles driven . I just bought car and Removed my harmonic balancer and before I put new one on what do you think is leaking. I will put a new crankshaft seal before new balancer goes on. Car is stock 03 Z06 with 70k
YES. Although mine was a LOT worse. I had oil from the front cover to the mufflers. What ever you have, That OEM seal is very hard and has most likely scored the dampener sealing surface. Get a better dampener and a new aftermarket seal.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
they make tools to center the cover around the crank, doing that job twice sucks if you don't get it perfect trying to use the balancer to center it... I have the tools for the front and rear covers I could sell since I don't plan on ever using them again
The term "GASKET" and "SEAL" are not the same thing. The front cover gasket is a thin paper/fiber style gasket, The front cover seal is a Metal case lip seal that gets pressed/hammered into the damper / crank snout opening in the front cover. You can change the front cover seal without taking the front cover off but, I always take it off to inspect the cam gears and chain. . When I get this far into engine replacement, I always remove the front cover, replace the OEM Timing Chain and most times the oil pump with a higher volume oil pump. But, that's just ME.
NO! You must PRY out the old seal and press or hammer in the new damper seal for a proper fit and correct sealing. How would you like it if it POPPED back out after you put everything back together? They make a seal driving tool to properly press it in but I normally find a large socket that fits on the seal lip and then drive it into the cover opening.
Neutron 82 is correct. If you remove the front cover, you will need that special centering tool to properly align the seal to the dampener so that it isnt offset on the dampener sealing surface.
Could it be leaky crank seal that spit and wicked everything up? Or who cares, when your in there replace timing front gasket and look at timing chain as car has 70k miles?
I did my balancer at about the same mileage. It's from the seal. Gaskets were dry and no oil drops. It's just a little oil mist and some road dirt. 18 months and about 35k miles later it's still dry. If you do remove the timing cover make sure you align it properly or you will have a real leak on your hands. You make the call.
Not speaking from experience myself, but I have heard from others with experience that you can skip the alignment tool by using this shortcut. Leave the timing cover bolts a little loose so that there's some play, press on the balancer, and the balancer will align the timing cover for you. Then just torque down the cover bolts as normal. Visualizing this, it seems like it should work just fine in a pinch. On the other hand, the alignment tool for LS engines I've seen for less than $20 doing a quick google search.
Not speaking from experience myself, but I have heard from others with experience that you can skip the alignment tool by using this shortcut. Leave the timing cover bolts a little loose so that there's some play, press on the balancer, and the balancer will align the timing cover for you. Then just torque down the cover bolts as normal. Visualizing this, it seems like it should work just fine in a pinch. On the other hand, the alignment tool for LS engines I've seen for less than $20 doing a quick google search.
LOL! Way back when I replaced mine, Thats how I did the alignment and all is fine.
NOTE & TECH TIP- If you heat up the damper HUB with a torch or heat gun to approx 200 deg, It will significantly aid in ease of removal and reinstallation.
If you take the front cover off to change the seal and gasket. Some good "while you are there items"...
The summit stuff is made in the USA and seems like good quality when I did mine
LS2 Chain: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sme-143012
Stock LS1 on left, Summit LS2 on the right
12-21-2023, 09:17 AM
Is this what front timing cover leak looks like ?
