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VS V6 Oil Leak from timing cover seal/harmonic balancer.. Oil pump drive position?

insane

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Ok so I got hold of a cheap VS V6 to take the motor from to put back in to my stato after converting it to a 5ltr 5spd last year as I want my v8 & manual back in my ute.

The V6 I just got was leaking oil from around the front timing cover seal & the bolt that holds the harmonic balancer to the crank.. I've removed the harmonic balancer & there's no sealant what so ever around where the bolt goes so I am guessing that is coming through from the keyway on the crank & in the harmonic balancer. From what I can tell it has been off before & looks like a second hand timing cover has been put on & new timing cover seal.. So that shouldn't be leaking.

What I really want to know is the crank shaft sprocket flat area meant to be in a specific flat area on the oil pump inner gear? What I can see with a mirror is a mark on the crank sprocket & another mark on the oil pump drive gear & they are not lined up, they are about 2 teeth away from each other (which also leads me to believe it has been off before & replaced along with the yellow painted letters "OK" on the timing cover). The oil pump inner gear & crank sprocket are mated together just these markings aren't in line. If they are meant to be in line can anyone tell me why?

I'm wondering if there could be a pressure relief hole that needs to line up? Maybe it has excessive oil pressure in the timing case due to this & blowing oil out past the seal as well as through the keyway & past the bolt? I could be way off the mark with my guess here lol... Just want to make sure so if I have to take the timing cover off I can do it before wasting my time & putting the harmonic balancer back on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I only have a Max Ellery workshop manual & it really isn't a whole lot of help except it says "The crank shaft sprocket flat area must line up with the corresponding flat area on the oil pump inner gear".. Is that saying the location of the marks are important? I honestly don't know but I'm leaning towards possibly. Max Ellery workshop manual is going to be a good fire starter from now on I tell you & when I can I'll buy a different manual.

Steve
 

Brett_jjj

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The oil pump is driven straight from the crankshaft, so theres no oil pump drive gear. I just had a read through a couple of workshop manuals I have here, a VS gregorys one, a max ellery VR/VS one and VT to VZ gregorys and a VT to VZ max ellery. The only manual to mention the oil pump timing marks is the VT to VZ max ellery manual, it shows the inner rotor timing mark in a pic, and says that with the ecotec V6 engine, the oil pump timing marks on the inner rotor and outer rotor must face eachother and both the timing marks should face towards the pump cover. . The flat on the crank must line up with the flat on the oil pump. The rest of the manuals just say to assemble the 2 rotors in the timing cover and pack the pump cavities with petroleum jelly, no mention of the timing marks etc.
 
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insane

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Thanks for that Brett.... So looks like I'll be taking the timing cover off to line these 2 marks up on the crank drive cog & the oil pump rotor.... Oh the joy of it all, that's something I would've liked to avoid but ahh well if it's got to be done, it's got to be done...

Thank you :)
 

striker314

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vt holden commodore ,3.8 ,automatic transmission;
hi steve ,im pretty sure from memory that you just got to make sure your dots on the cam and crank sprockets have to line up ,and don't move the crank shaft and cam shaft when you have them off ,the dot on the inner oil pump gear is just a ref point .if your using the same oil pump gears ,make sure you put it back together the way you got it out ,or uneven wear might occur in the pump ,cheers good luck with it.
 

sleepyjean

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Brett and Striker. I am doing the timing gears, oil pump and chain on a VS statesman at the moment and would tell you the spline for the oil pump should line up with the marks on the crank shaft drive. They can fit together not aligned but there is excess play, with the marks lined up the play is minimal. Checked it all by hand with the gears in my hands making sure I was setting it all up right.
Yet insane has made reference to a flat area which would lead me to believe that the drive and oil pump are off an earlier model V6 not an ecotech and I am not sure if they are a different diameter than the later drives and gears. Remember the early V6 the crankshaft is different at the front at least and the harmonic balancer is different.
There should be no sealant on the bolt only locktite to lock the thread but Holden did have it all the way and onto the washer for the bolt. Also it would be worth checking the balancer where the seal runs on it for wear this could cause your leak.
 

VT clown

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Hey guys have a vs v6 got leak out the harmonic balancer so I got new seal and it's still leaking after I tighten up the bolt any ideas
 
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