Oh ya, you said "Your oil leak source is the front timing cover seeping down and wetting the oil pan."

How do I fix that?

 

The tool to remove push in 'christmas tree' fittings should be available at most auto parts stores. It will look somewhat like a flat fork. You push the 'tines' between the metal of the mounting point and the piece being retained, and rock and twist to get the push pin to work its way out of the metal.
The front cover seal or the crankshaft seal are leaking. I believe both require removal of the front cover to replace. The junction of the front cover, engine block and oil pan is a 'three-way' meeting, so FoMoCo recommends a blurb of RTV sealant be put in to fill in any gap. Replacing either gasket or seal is a pretty time consuming job as the front of the engine has to get 'undressed'. No p/s pump, a/c compressor, tensioner, etc, and the cam and crank sensors. All those things have to be disconnected and moved out of the way. I don't know for sure if the a/c needs to be evacuated or can be held by wire out of the way.
makuloco should know for sure.
tom

 

Heck I was just going to cut those "christmas trees" off and use the zip ties to put them back together. Would I use that cat claw tool to get the last fuel injector connector off also, or is it just for prying off those christmas tree fasteners?

When you say front cover, do you mean the front valve cover?

 

Smaller zip ties for the fuel injector, thinner I should say. I would buy the husky one best one I have seen.

 

No it is the engine front timing cover it is a big job everything bolts to it or is in the way of removing it, including the valve cover gaskets, and of course upper intake has to come off. A/c compressor stays put. The primary use of the cat claw is all those push fasteners. If the lower portion of that tab is still in there you will need a pick or very small flat blade screwdriver to release it back.

 

So is the oil leak/front cover problem something I really need to worry about?

I will look for the thinner zip ties.

I wasnt able to find the cats claw you pictured when looking on home depots website. Did it come out of a larger set or were you able to buy it separately?

 

As far as the oil leak as long as you don't minds some drops in the driveway, they usually never get to the point of total oil leak out.
The Husky claw is sold separate right there next to the screwdrivers hanging up, it's the only one they sell I believe.

 

Ok, thanks for the info.. I will give this another shot this weekend and report back.

 

Success! It was near 50 degrees on Sunday so I gave it another shot. Since I had recently taken the upper intake off and had a good idea of getting the lower intake off, it took about 30 mins to get both the upper and lower off. I just used a flat head screwdriver to pull out those "Christmas tree" fasteners and basically broke off the retaining part of that last fuel injector connector. I knew I could just use the zip ties to fasten them back. All in all it took about 2hrs and 30 mins from start to finish, and a good part of that was cleaning the lower intakes and putting the zip ties on the fuel injector connectors (not much room to work in there). The engine fired right up once I had it back together, thanks a million guys!

Here is the full view of the engine compartment with the upper and lower off:





Here is a closeup of the lower intake ports, pretty dirty!





Here is a view of the condition the old gaskets. You can see how some are cracked and why the escape wouldn't start last time, because when I tried to re-seat it without cleaning it (because I couldn't access it) there was alot of dirt/funk between the gasket and the lower intake.





This is after I cleaned them up. I wasn't sure if I could use 409 or Mean Green or some sort of cleaner, so I just used a rag and water to rub and wipe as much of the funk as I could.





This is the Lower intake with the injector connectors zip-tied into place. Sorry its a little blurry.





This is an evap hose I think, it comes off the right side of the upper intake. It looks pretty bad, black coming off if you grab it. Where can I get a new one with the same connectors this ones has?





A cpl other quick questions if you don't mind: If I end up going back into my lower intake at some point, can I use some kind of cleaner to help me clean the funk off or just stick with water and a rag?

I have a couple lights on my dashboard that come on sometimes. Sometimes they stay on, sometimes they go out on their own and come back later. One of them is the light that looks like my radiator (antifreeze low?). When I look at the antifreeze reservoir, it is about an inch low. Can I just add any water to it, (tap, bottled etc) or does it have to be distilled water? Or do I need to pour antifreeze mix into it? Id rather not buy a big jug of antifreeze if I just need that little amount.

The other other light that comes on my dashboard is the one that shows the airbag. Sometimes it blinks, sometimes its on solid, sometimes its not on at all. I read somewhere it could just mean a loose wire. How can I check/fix that?

 

Does the airbag light flash a code at you? Something like:

4 flashes close together, delay of a few seconds, two flashes close together,

long pause,

begin again (four flashes, pause, two flashes, etc.).

Those codes tell you where to be looking for problems.

 

I don't know really. I know it flashes sometimes, sometimes its solid, sometimes it goes out. I will pay more attention next time. Wouldnt it give me a code?

On a related note: it was 11 degress this morning, the escape fired right up and idled normally

 

A 2001 is new enough that the best bet is to pull the computer codes to find out exactly what it's complaining about... it *might be* flashing a code at you that you need to pay attention to interpret but pulling the codes is best...





There is a TSB on this year that addresses certain fault codes (but you'll need to pull the codes to see if it applies to you):

 

Glad its up and running again.You can use simple green 409 with no issues.I use brake clean or kerosene to clean stuff up. Also check the connections under the seat and the seat belt .

 

Our 2004 has intermittent airbag light issues. Some times I'll be driving and it'll flash or come on solid. I'll turn off and restart it and it will go out until it wants to have a fit again, usually several weeks or months. But I've never tried to check for codes. I figured that would be a dealer thing and I'm not paying $100/hr to have it checked.

 

Go to any auto parts store (unless you're in California) most such places will pull codes for you for free although I'm not sure of their ability to get airbag, ABS, etc. codes but it can't hurt to try....