Water leaking for my Taurus

[Jeff]

Hi,
Recently my Taurus(89', 3.8 V6,100k) lost water frequently. It is about from
max volume (hot) to min volume (cold) in five days (we only drive the car
for a 1.5 mile trip everyday). Several days ago I have the car checked in a
garage. The technician told me the leaking is from the gasket of timing
chain. I have no knowledge about the water passage relating to time chain
before. Here is the question.
1. It is emergency or not to fix the timing chain gasket?
2. If it is not emergency, whether it is easy or not for me (have done brake
and CV shaft jobs) to do the job.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

[Matt]

"Jeff" <jr...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<a6P88.32021$_J3.32...@news20.bellglobal.com>...

I'm not too familiar with these engines but your water pump is
probably somewhere near your timing chain and that might be the source
of the leakage. If that's the case you could probably replace the
water pump and timing chain together since you'd have to do double the
work to do one at a time. I think some timing chains are supposed to
get replaced at 120k. But check out a haynes or chilton manual first,
that should give you an idea if this is something you can do. I've
done both jobs on different vehicles when I was a kid. If you can
replace CV's I'd assume you could do a water pump and chain.

HTH,
Matt

[Jeff]

Sorry, a little inaccurate in last message. The technician told me the
gasket under the timing chain cover needs changing.

[Jeff]

>
> I'm not too familiar with these engines but your water pump is
> probably somewhere near your timing chain and that might be the source
> of the leakage. If that's the case you could probably replace the
> water pump and timing chain together since you'd have to do double the
> work to do one at a time. I think some timing chains are supposed to
> get replaced at 120k.

I have the Haynes Repair Manual, but still need your opinion here. You mean
the timing chains get replaced at 120k, not the gasket under the timing
chain cover? If it belongs to a preventive maintenance, I'll do the job.

[db...@sprynet.com]

No they giving you bad info... you dont ever repalace a timing chain
unless it breakes or jumps the sprocket, in your case you do not have
this problem... you have a metal timing chain in the 3.8 ford engine...
i hava a 93 taurus 3.0 and its notorious for the timing chain cover to
leak coolant.... the 3.8 engine is also notorious for this also... on my
car the water pump was replaces as the weep hole on the bottom of the
pump was leaking(you dont see it leak but if you use a small mirrow and
a flash light you put it under the pump and you see the rust color of
the coolant thats dried up under the water pump... the water pump is
attached to the timing chain cover, but i dont think they will come out
together, first you probably gonna have to get the pump out for
clearance and later take the timing chain cover out... i did not pay
much attention to the instructions for the 3.8 as it did not apply to me
but i do remember that it was a little different than the 3.0 as the oil
pan might have to dropped and a new gasket put on the oil pan at the
same time as the timing chain cover.. (thats what is keeping me from
changing my timing chain cover gasket)... the Helm(ford ) shop manual
tells you do not cut the oil pan gasket and do not just put sealer on
this place(the spot between the timing chain cover and the oil pan)..
It seems that some people do not want to take off the oil pan and want
to take a short cut to do the timing chain cover gasket and will do
this. if you take off the oil pan to change this gasket you might or
might not have to raise the engine... on mine the coolant drips onto the
exhaust piping and makes a steam on real cool mornings, not much, but
you can smell the coolant burning as it evaporates off the hot pipe...
i had a real problem finding it, could always smell it, but it seems
that it drips down and runs under the oil pan and then drops onto the
hot pipe so it never hits the ground..........