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Well....so much for the "all is good" statement I made above. Rolled Blazer out in driveway so I could wash the garage floor. Afterwards started Blazer, drove into garage, with engine running, raised hood, heard a strange noise....fan just barely hitting shroud....engine off, shifted shroud to the left a bit, restarted engine....ok, no more noise. Let engine run for a few more minutes, was checking around with flashlight....spot oil on clean garage floor!
Get under front end and see oil dripping-out from the center point of the timing cover / oil pan half circle. CRAP!
I torqued all the oil pan bolts....perhaps my torque wrench calibration is off....IDK.....I tightened the right front bolt just a bit more, wiped the oil off, started engine, watched the area for five minutes....saw only a bit of oil seepage. So tomorrow going to tighten all the oil pan bolts a bit more, remove the crank sensor, clean off the timing cover, exposed gasket, oil pan area and apply some RTV to the area....maybe it will seal, maybe it will not....got nothing to lose.
Where did you apply RTV at?
While the FSM says to do it like this Its probably best to just run the bead all the way down, no harm in doing so just control the amount so it does not press out into the block.
I do not have the FSM for reference; I applied RTV to the four corners of the oil pan and around the two holes at the rear where those two studs are at; looks like I should have applied more according to the FSM.
Looks like I will be dropping the front diff (again) to inject some RTV.
Got a No-Go....after I tightened the left front bolt a bit more, then applied the RTV as shown above...the leak got worse. Coming from behind the crank sensor hole in the timing cover....of course not able to see behind it.
So I get to do most of this all over again, this time hopefully as originally planned....drop, not remove the differential. Will see how it goes. Hey Mod....will be able to answer your question in a few days.
When you get this done, you will be the expert on this. You should post a "How to" write up to post as a sticky thread for others to find in case they need it.
Soooooo..........the quick answer to "can the oil pan be removed without removing the differential?".....is no.
I thought I was going to get the oil pan off and I might have, but it would have required getting the diff pushed forward...which requires either removing the shocks or the CV axles....but not sure as the oil pump pickup does require the pan to come straight off/on.
After draining the diff, removing the CV axles, and twisting the diff a bit, I was able to get the oil pan out (already had it loose)....then I removed the diff, it was barely in anyways as it did a controlled fall.
I paid attention as to how it came out so I can put in back in this way with the right-side axle tube attached this time.
I also think the timing cover I have will not work with timing chain tensioner I put in; think it was contributing to the oil leak. Will probably remove the tensioner while waiting for the new oil pan gasket and timing cover to arrive.
Later,
.
Last edited by LannyL81; May 14, 2020 at 05:19 AM.
