Finally found the source of my oil leak..it is the front cover. Found blobs of white RTV that had been squeezed out of the front cover; see the same on the front lip of the intake manifold as well.

Anyways, does the oil pan need to be dropped to replace the front cover seal? Looks like the alternator, power steering pump and A/C compressor all need to be moved out of the way. Water pump, harmonic balancer, crank pulley have to come off to get the front cover off.

This looks to be an all day job.

 

Yea petty much , but its really not to bad . I'm not quite sure but I think there may be some bolts you have to remove from the oil pan just in the front . I did one on a ford 302 and man every bolt broke in the block , but even then it only took about 2 hours .

 

Still not sure if the oil pan has to be dropped or not. Have ordered a timing cover and oil pan gasket sets, waiting for them to arrive. Is there a diagram or exploded view somewhere that shows me how the oil pan and timing cover fit?

 

If it's a 4.3, you would at least have to loosen the oil pan bolts towards the front & temporarly pull down the front of the pan. It's near-impossible to re-position the front cover without that little bit of extra clearance. Re-seal the pan with a bit of RTV injected into the gap. 2.8 can be serviced without oil pan disturbance.

 

not to hijack thread, buut does anyone know how much to torque pan bolts to? I have 04 blazer 2wd. thanks.