#1 cylinder TDC

[boxerpower]

hey guys im planning to do a front main seal on my 2.2 and an a little confused on how to get it to get the #1 cylinder to top dead center i looked at my haynes manual and still am confused. can you guys point me in the right direction. and while ur at it any tips for changing that seal? and the reason why im changingit is because when i drive it hard then come to a stop or turn the engine off, the oil drips down the oil pan and onto my headers. it smoke more than a stressed cowboy. and is really embarassing when i pull up to a light and have to explain that my car ISN'T ON FIRE. :roll:
-ryan-

[backpack09]

I typically put a socket extension into the sparkplug hole on #1 and turn the engine via the crank bolt till the extension is as far out as it will go...

RMS do not typically fail on these cars. You may want to investigate your valve cover gaskets a bit. Get the engine good and hot, drive up on some ramps, with the car running crawl under with a flash light and look at the seals. I could usually see the oil running out.

Then it drips down onto the cross member and drips right in the center, making you think it is a oil pan or RMS leak.

[Plays_with_Toys]

He said front main seal, or crank seal. While you're in there I imagine you're also replacing your cam seals and your timing belt correct? That's what I did when I went in to replace the crank seal as well.

It was super embarrassing. Any drive that lasted more than 15 minutes when I parked resulted in a smokey car.

As for TDC. I used a compression gauage, and that is the way haynes describes it I believe. Basically I rotated the crank until the compression gauge begins to build pressure. Then you line up your 0* of timing on your crank pulley. Then when you pull your pulley off, your crank gear and your cam gears might be a little off. I know I had to turn mine a little to get all the markings to line up. I then reattached my pulley, and marked true 0* of timing on it.

[boxerpower]

He said front main seal, or crank seal. While you're in there I imagine you're also replacing your cam seals and your timing belt correct? That's what I did when I went in to replace the crank seal as well.


i didnt even think of cam seals. i have to check my manual on how to do that. as for the timing belt my father said it was changed out a couple thousand miles ago. so to my understanding its still fresh.

[Wiscon_Mark]

ah jeez. Whoever did your timing belt didn't do the full job then - you replace these seals while you're in there to save on labor...

[Plays_with_Toys]

Agreed. The other thing is you now have gotten oil all over your belt. It's no longer fresh. Cam seals are easy. I think it's a total of 8 bolts. 4 on each side and same process as the crank seal. Oh you'll probably want new timing cover gaskets as well.

The part numbers are:

13581
13594

When oil gets on these they expand and bloat and will never go back in right again. I tried to re use mine and they just wouldn't fit. Honestly, the whole job cost me just over $100 when I did it myself.