[Mikes Taurus]

update: another Taurus owner stated all he did is clean the existing lower gasket, apply some black high temp RTV on the bottom of the cover and the exposed oil pan gasket and reassemble and he had no leaks. So that is what I did with this current Taurus.

water pump and timing cover jacket I’ll torque back on finish up tomorrow and will see how it goes.

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I did the Timing chain replacement dance about 10 years ago. Just got a new to me 2002 Taurus however it came with a coolant leak at the Timing chain (T.C) gasket, my bad missed that. 114K miles on 2002 Taurus. I don't want to drop oil pan at this time and the method below worked last time but curious if anything is new since then. .

How I did it last time (following a post at the time) was to buy an oil pan gasket, cut out the now exposed existing oil pan gasket where the Timing Chain Cover plate and pan met. Clean area, put black sealant at corners, lay new -small section- of oilpan gasket in and reinstall timing chain cover with new gasket seal all around.

So whats the current recommended practice for putting this back together?

Have everything taken off and tomorrow moring will start cleaning and get new parts.

Thanks for the help and sorry this is probably redundant. Watched YOUtUBE etc. but I always check here as you guys and gals are great.

 

[Automender12345]

There are two different oil pan gaskets used a rigid one and a gummy one. The I did both and didn;t replace the gasket just cleaned both sides of the pan gasket and RTV'd both sides. Have been leak free for years. I put a very sparing layer of RTV on both sides of the TC gasket, not too much or I believe it will leak. I used a scotch pad on a 90 degree die grinder to clean the cat iron and the aluminum TC. Cleaning is really important especially around the rear port that usually leaks. I also always replace the TC the last three times on my three Taurus since I had one leak after a few months.

I just used RTV on those long bolts as sealant. I wire wheel the bolts and threads to really clean them.

 

[Mikes Taurus]

Job complete.

Thank you for your response. I did as you described above & I used RTV on long bolts.

100 miles, 4 days & no leaks!
Also: Torquing main crank bolt I used an old serpentine belt around lower pulley and used as a “strap wrench” to gag motor rotation. Looped lower pulley, pull excess straight up above engine, begin torque and as engine rotated it spooled belt about 1/4 of a rotation, put block of wood in loop at top to stop rotation as I pushed down on wrench, when belt tightened “click”. Nice.