froggy47

I am having an indy shop do mine & would like to give the tech as much info as I can, he seems good, but more info never hurt.

This is for oil leak(s)



I am searching also.

THX

RX-Ben

Best suggestion is to get a pdf of the shop manual.

davidfarmer

gotta get the PS rack out of the way, then it's an obvious repair for any mechanic. A Balancer puller, then the pan and cover just have metric bolts holding them in place.

froggy47

Thanks guys, I have a shop manual that I will give him.

Are you saying that only the steering rack needs to be moved out of the way?

Not engine top accessories? Not the sub frame? I guess for the pan you need to drop the sub frame. It's running some dye now & will bring tomorrow to ck the dye. If the pan is good can I do the front cover & front seal without the pan?

crainholio

Water pump will need to come off if he's removing the front cover, but that's not necessary for just a crank seal change. That can be done w/ the cover in place very easily, and with much less work that re-aligning the front cover for reinstallation.

froggy47

We don't know yet if it's the cover or the crank seal or both. Will know tomorrow. Dye trace.

How/where do you drill pin the bolt? Use a roll pin?The tsb for the c6 balancer problem says to use red loctite

I walked thru the fsm procedure & it does call out for remove (or just move) the steering rack & w/p.

Do you really have to pin the flywheel? If I mark the balancer first then line it up to go back it should be ok? Not replacing the balancer. It has a tiny wobble like they almost all do. How about put it in gear?

vette6aut0x

I find it is faster to drop down the cradle. 4 nuts and remove the bolt from the steering wheel shaft . It is a bitch to remove the rack. You don't have to remove any suspension, the cradle will drop down. You will also need to hold the engine in place and take the nuts off of the motor mounts. Sounds like a lot but still faster than the rack. I have done it both ways.

trackboss

I've done some work in that area on my car a couple times. The cradle does not have to be lowered (as the book suggests) to remove the rack. It's tight, but the rack does slide out.
Use sealer on the bottom corners of the timing cover.
Use an arp bolt. Put silicone on both sides of the washer to reduce frictionwhile torquing. It also helps sealing if you are using an aftermarket balancer because they have a keyway cut into them that acts as a path for oil to get out.
Good idea to use an ati balancer. I made my own installer using a piece of 16mmx2.0 all thread a couple nuts jammed on the end to hold the all thread then a nut with washers, and a bearing from my generic install kit in front of the hub. Not a great idea to use the bolt to install the hub. I also heated the hub of the balancer in the oven for about 20 min prior to install. If you want to pin it just get the ati kit. It's easy to do.

vette6aut0x

If you drop the cradle you don't have to remove the rack, it stays in place.

geerookie

I've done it both ways and this is way faster.
Also get an ATI balancer and if you do a lot of track stuff get the under drive one. It helps save the power steering rack/pump and keeps the engine cooler. The OEM water pump has cavitation issues above 4500 rpm.
Also don't forget to lock your steering wheel in position when you do this, otherwise the steering position sensor will be out of alignment and AH/ABS doesn't like this!

Paul Schmidt

Lock it. I'm living that nightmare right now.

victorf

Magna Charger site has detailed instructions on doing the job without removing the steering rack!

froggy47

I am not familiar with that site & google gives me 1.5 million hits on the words. Can you provide a link?

froggy47

I am a little confused on this part. Tech says that where you disconnect the steering column it's keyed. Cannot put back wrong. He also said he has scan tool to reset steer position sensor in any case.

froggy47

General update, drove 125 miles with dye & went to shop this am. Dry as a bone.

Grrr.

No trace of dye (of course)

Then just to test we looked with the uv light & glasses down the oil filler hole where the dye was poured in & no trace of dye there.

wtf?

So put 2 more bottles of dye in & tested it (smear dye on finger & look with light/glasses) and the dye did show.

So now will drive more miles until it drips & reinspect.

I could be that easy driving does not make leak but autox runs triggers it to leak. But the leak was pretty significant - dozen drips off the spring onto the floor & the spring was covered both sides - that I thought a few easy miles (125) would be enough to at least start the leak trace.

froggy47

If you drop the sub frame (seems to be the most recommended so far) does the spring & all the control arms/shocks etc stay in place?

victorf

Magnacharger.com
Look up their supercharger installation manual instruction.

froggy47

Check, thx.

geerookie

I've never done it with springs, I have coil-overs. I just undo the bottom mount and release the plastic clips that hold the hard lines for the brakes.
You are only dropping it 3 - 4 inches. Just enough so the damper clears the top of the rack.

geerookie

Correct, the shaft cannot be put back together wrong (without forcing it) BUT if while it is disconnected you spin the steering wheel 360 degrees the shaft will still line up but the sensor will be in the wrong place. When centered it provides about 2.5v to the PCM/EBCM to tell it the wheel is centered. You can spin the steering wheel more than 360 degrees both directions before you come to lock. When you are at full lock turning left the sensor reads about .25v and when you are at full lock to the right it reads about 4.75v but the sensor had to spin more than 720 degrees and gives a smooth progressive voltage from lock to lock. Hope that helps clear the confusion.

Oh, and you can't fix the steering shaft connected wrong with the scan tool. At least not in anyway I can figure out.

Side note: I don't have column lock so I use channel locks on the shaft so it won't spin after the joint is disconnected.