timing chain cover stuck

[FlyingLowDutchman]

Let me begin to tell you I have little experience in tooling on these huge american motors (LOL, we have up to 2.0L motors in our european cars). I bought my 5.0L 1986 Mustang last year, and this is my first technical "project" on the car.

I had a gasket leakage (cooling fluid on the block/timing chain cover) at the timing chain cover, so I ordered all gaskets, thermostat, and a new timing chain (I have no clue how old the one on the car is, so figured it was smart to also replace this one).

I drained the radiator and fluid system, removed all tubes, thermostat housing, waterpump, balancer, timing "thingy",all the bolts of the timing chain cover and sliced all of the gaskets open between motor and the timing chain cover. But unfortunately the cover is stuck and is, even after figuring out and trying "eveything" which couldn't harm the cover and/or the oilpan. Tried for 2 hours, but can't get it off. It is "loose" on top, you can move it forward a bit (around 3 mm) , but it seems to be tightend on the lower side of the cover (near the crankshaft) , where the rubber seal is placed.

Does anyone know this issue, and has anyone got any thoughts on how to resolve this problem?

Thanks!

[FlyingLowDutchman]

These are my bought articles:


And here you can see the stuck timing chain cover:

[Broncojunkie]

Front oil pan bolts go up through the bottom of the pan. You'll have to remove them.

[dynodon64]

4 bolts up through from the bottom of the oil pan as said in last post.

[FlyingLowDutchman]

yes I know, already removed them, only forgot to tell. still stuck

[erratic50]

Bolt straight down from the water inlet on the intake?

I assume the timing thingy is the distributor and you pulled it out entirely. If not there's the problem.

[ashley roachclip]

There is no need to remove the distributor , to get the cover off .
Slide a thin putty knife between the block and cover , to see if you can find where the hang up is .
I presume all of the bolts came out while , as in none broke .

[FlyingLowDutchman]

The back of the cover moves...

See this videoshot: https://youtu.be/tvQ0cv8RFaA

with the "timing thingy" I mean the timing pointer/ bracket / ... just the piece of metal to get timing right...

I didnt remove the distributor, you can see it in the pic it's still there... 'But don't think its necasery too..

Gasket on the back is loose (slid it with a blade) also on the flat pieces of the oilpan, only thing could be the round part.. But it's pretty stuck, as you can see in the vid. All bolts came out nice, none broke off.

[erratic50]

Take out neighboring bolts on the pan, pry down on pan while pulling out on cover. Looks stuck to the pan.

[bwguardian]

Looks like it is stuck on the front oil pan seal...the grooved rubber piece on the front radius of the pan. Try pulling up on the cover...

[brianj]

It's stuck to the pan. It is now time for brute strength and ignorance - you will need to get a bit forceful with it. Try to run a thin screwdriver or a pick around the round part on the timing cover first to break the seal loose. It's not uncommon for people to go crazy with silicone down there and basically glue the cover to the pan. Likewise, run it around the crank seal, being careful not to score the crank, just to be sure there is not a groove worn in the crank. I have also seen the edge of the oil pan hang up on the timing cover, requiring a bit of bending.

[mcfairmont]

There should be 2 hollow sheetmetal dowels stuck into the block, that postion the timing cover correctly. These dowels can make it difficult to slide the timing cover foreward, as they prevent the timing cover from "popping up" once the bolts are removed. If you are certain all the timing cover bolts are removed, I would try prying the timing cover foreward with a slotted screwdriver, as loa as you can fit it in. I believe that the dowels are inside the 2nd lowest timing cover bolt holes, those bolts actually fit inside the dowels. Leaving the dowels out upon reassembly would likely make reinstalling the cover easier, but may also lead to alignment issues. IF you oil pan has the 1 piece rubber gasket, and appears to be in good condition, loosening all the oil pan bolts enough to drop the pan a bit would make for an easier RE& Re of the timing cover.

[FlyingLowDutchman]

Thanks a lot for all comments! I think the dowels must be the thing which makes it stuck! I will check in a few days, as soon as I have the time to have a look at it again. Is it normally neccesary to remove those dowels, or are they supposed to stay there when removing and reinstalling the cover?

thanks fot all the help!

[fgross2006]

The back of the cover moves...

See this videoshot: https://youtu.be/tvQ0cv8RFaA

with the "timing thingy" I mean the timing pointer/ bracket / ... just the piece of metal to get timing right...

I didnt remove the distributor, you can see it in the pic it's still there... 'But don't think its necasery too..

Gasket on the back is loose (slid it with a blade) also on the flat pieces of the oilpan, only thing could be the round part.. But it's pretty stuck, as you can see in the vid. All bolts came out nice, none broke off.

Did you completely remove the timing scale? When I did my timing cover 2 years back I couldn't get my cover off either and when I pulled too hard I broke it. I discovered after that the timing scale was till on and was in fact part of the bolt set up holding the timing cover in place.

I ended up buying a new timing cover. Try not to let that happen to you. The aftermarket timing covers need to have a plate gasketed and glued to cover an opening for a manual fuel pump and it comes with an extra hole for an oil dipstick our cars don't need. I found this out when oil started spurting out the hole when I started the car. Had to drive a set screw into the hole with locktite while the timing cover was already on the car.

When you get everything off check out all the bolt holes to make sure there no stripped ones. I found al least 3 or 4 on mine. You get only one chance to repair them. if you discover stripped bolt holes after you have installed the timing cover and water pump you will have to break it all down again, strip and replace all gaskets again.

Worst case scenario you can helicoil any stripped bolt holes and they will be stronger then before,
when you do your final reassembly I suggest you smear RTV on the bolt threads and shanks. it will help prevent leakage through the bolt holes.

Use a generous amount of RTV in the corners where the oil pan and timing cover come together. That's a stress point that will leak if you don't use plenty of RTV.

[Mgino757]

When I replaced my timing cover, I did not remove any dowel pins. Also, make sure, in case you have not, that you unbolt the bracket that also attaches to the back of the air pump.

[FlyingLowDutchman]

Finally got it loose! It was the dowels that where stuck! Thanks for the help!