First off I am not a mechanic by trade or hobby, I am a oil change / rotate tire level kind of guy. I have a 1988 F250 with a 460 EFI that sprung a coolant leak at the little 3" long bypass hose. I occurred to me that none of the cooling system had been replaced in the 19 years I owned the truck. since it is not a daily driver that I depend on -- I decided to do all hoses and the water pump. Then I did something stupid, I thought I had all the bolts out of the water pump and tried to pry it away from the engine. So now I am having to replace a broken timing cover. I've ordered a new cover that comes with a new seal. I am in the tear down stages now and down to the cover itself and I have a couple of questions.

1) I see two bolts that come through the oil pan into the bottom of the cover; do I have to remove the oil pan? The factory manual doesn't state to remove the pan but makes a statement about cutting the oil pan seal flush with cylinder block ???
2) What is the proper sequence for installing the cover / seal? It seems like the seal would be in the cover and then the cover assembly installed on the block. Does this require an installation tool?
3) The water pump has large nipple to connect two sizes of hose threaded into the body of the pump. The replacement pump didn't come with one; can anyone help with a part number or alternate (picture below)?
4) Whether I replace this nipple or re-use the old one, what type of thread compound do I use? Is there a special automotive pipe thread compound or do I use the same stuff I use on water pipes in my house?

 

The factory manual specifies removing the timing cover when replacing water pump anyway, so you were forced by fate to do the job right.

Also the timing cover should be assembled to the water pump on the bench, then installed as an assembly. This is in the Ford Manual. This is to avoid a coolant leak at the block.

Normally this is the time to replace the timing chain on these trucks. Get the proper double roller Cloyes timing chain and gears, you'll have to rent a damper puller, then a damper installer.

The timing cover needs to be aligned when installed, This can be done with the counterweight that is on the front of the crankshaft, the cover is put on loosely then the counterweight centers the timing cover, then you torque it down, using a torquing sequence.

The 1988 timing covers used 1/4x20 bolts, after early '89 they used a 5/16 bolt in the corners. The Dorman aftermarket timing covers have a workaround for this, but it's the 89' pans that are the hassle, I believe they supply a small bolt head with a thicker shank.

The 88's still had the four piece oil pan gasket which is probably better, you have to follow the directions here or you'll have an oil leak.

The nipple on the water pump should be removed with a flare nut wrench, you'll never get a box wrench over that. Run that through a wire wheel, paint the water pump with engine paint.

You can use pipe sealant on the threads.

Don't drop anything into the oil pan. Cover the opening AT ALL TIMES.You'll be scraping old sealant etc. and it will be off over night.

The water pump should have some kind of sealant usually, the water pump bolts need a sealant on them because they protrude into water jackets, at least some of them do.

The archives here have a lot of information on all these moves, back-check what I've outlined, don't make a move until you fully understand what your about to do, and have the proper tools to do it.

By the way go slow on that oil pan gasket, there can be NOTHING at the points where you removed old gasket material.

You need a clean, sharp cut, and some form-a-gasket goes in the corner, (I think).

No sealant or gasket material can remain.

The area should be cleaned with a scraper, thinner, brake cleaner, something, then you add the sealant specified, let it set up if directed to, etc.

 

Long story short:

1: Lower the oil pan, but don't cut the gasket if you don't have to; you might be able to reuse it if it doesn't get destroyed. Install the studs into the bottom of the front cover before installing it. Then reinstall the oil pan. The pan doesn't have to come completely out, just enough to install the cover.

2: What seal are you talking about here; there are four different seals that touch the front cover: oil pan gasket, engine block to front cover gasket, water pump backing plate gasket, and the front seal. The front seal, and the block to cover gasket need to be installed on the cover before attaching the cover to the engine. A hammer can be used to install the front seal. Set the seal in place, then lightly tap it into place evenly. Only tap on the metal outer part. A press, or seal installing tool can be used too.

3: You would have to make the pipe yourself if you wanted a new one. Plain nipples are available at auto parts stores, then you would just need a tee and a bunch of heater hose and clamps. Steel pipe could be threaded in too

4: Any thread sealant should work.

About installing the front cover, and oil pan. Check the size of the bolts that go into the bottom of the cover, and the holes that the bolts go through in the oil pan. On the Dorman cover I installed on my 460 the oil pan bolt holes in the timing cover are larger than the stock bolts used. The cover comes with studs that fit the oil pan, and the cover. Proper procedure for installing my front cover should have been: drop/lower the oil pan, install studs into bottom of front cover, install front cover onto engine, reinstall the oil pan using provided nuts for studs. I, however, did not lower the oil pan when I installed mine. I cut the gasket flush with the front of the engine, replaced it with the same section cut from a new gasket with RTV at the joints, then I installed the front cover. I did not install the studs first because there isn't enough play in the front seal to angle the studs into the oil pan holes; the front cover needs to be installed straight onto the crank snout. Because of this I have to drill the oil pan bolt holes out to fit the holes in the cover. Something that I have neglected to do.

 

That's it, the studs on the aftermarket timing cover.

When I did the water pump on my late 89', I sent that timing cover back because of that arrangement where the factory 5/16 bolts are replaced with studs and nuts. If I'm not mistaken, if you have the 88'/early 89' timing cover, you can use the factory 1/4x20 bolts, but if you have a 4/1989 or later cover you have to use the studs, which are 1/4x20 insertion, then a 5/16 shank protrudes through the pan, and you put a nut on that.

I think the Dorman cover will work with the factory 1/4x20 bolts. It's tapped at 1/4 in. in that location for the oil pan bolts.

Now the later oil pans had the one piece gasket with metal spacers for each oil pan bolt imbedded in the gasket, and used a metal flange on the outer edge of the pan that the oil pan bolts were inserted through.

It's a drag to cut those, they are more re-usable, but the early four (4) piece gaskets, if you break that seal, well I would not do that, you'll be putting in an oil pan gasket. Unless you don't mind the leak.

I ended up repainting and reusing my timing cover, though I did the oil pan gasket on that truck at that time.

If you like you can opt for a used early timing cover, there's a dip stick provision that you won't use.

 

The oil pan bolt holes on the Dorman cover are larger than the stock bolts on my 460. It's why my oil pan isn't bolted to the front cover, and why I have a massive oil leak at the front of my motor.

 

The pre-4/1989 460 blocks were all 1/4x20 bolts of 1 inch length.

After 4/1989 the block at the rear main was tapped at 5/16, and the timing cover was tapped at 5/16.

All other bolts on the later blocks were 1/4x20.

When I did the water pump, oil pan gasket, timing chain on my F-350, which is a 5/89 block, so the later design, I ran into that stud arrangement, and called Dorman, they said that the cover is made for multiple applications, like older, which is why the Dorman cover has the provision for the dipstick like the early motors, before everyone had dipstick tube oil leaks and a dipstick tube mounting strap to an exhaust manifold stud that often rusted/broke off.

I also have a 3/89 motor, in a 3/89 F-250 which I pulled, and in that truck installed a 7/89 motor out of an RV, could not use the RV oil pan, it's different, I had to re-use the early pan and early timing cover with the later block, and modified two washers for the two now very slightly longer 1/4x20 bolts at the timing cover location, and used the torque spec for the 1/4x20 bolts, which is slightly lower, in those spots.

But the Dorman cover is set up for the older motor, it should be 1/4x20.

If you have a later model block/motor, your 4 corner holes in the pan are slightly larger, for the 5/16 bolts.

Randall, if you run into a problem see if you can get an original early timing cover, the tab/pointer for setting timing is on the cover, make sure it's the same as your '88 block, if not it's removable/replaceable.

Let us know how you make out.

 

First up thanks for the feedback / advice. I got the timing cover off and discovered it has been removed / replaced at some prior point. I realize now what the manual was saying about cutting the oil pan gasket at the block. There is a "timing cover gasket set" available at RockAuto that has the two corner pieces of the oil pan gasket pre-cut (pic below). The seal I was asking about earlier is the round crankshaft to cover seal. And as stated above it makes sense to install the seal in the cover and then align the cover using the spacer. However, I am on the fence about using the spacer as an alignment tool. Only because I would imagine the tool would have a slightly larger outside diameter than that of the spacer to account for any "running clearance". I think I will look into availability at the local part store(s). As for the bolts vs studs on the bottom, the old cover has 5/16-18 tapped holes, so I should be able to use the existing 5/16 bolts without the studs.

Tobacco, I think I will take you advice on the timing chain the whole Cloyes C3079X heavy duty set sells for about $45 plus shipping online or $60.99 at the local O'Reilly's and I will hopefully never have to take the timing cover off again.

 

What running clearance? The spacer is what the seal is sealing anyway. It only spins, if your spacer is doing any other sort of movement you've got bigger problems. Once you get everything setup with the bolts finger tight on the cover you'll see that there isn't much to aligning the cover to the spacer.

 

I'm probably overthinking this, I guess "running clearance" isn't the correct term. I my mind (I dont have the seal in hand yet) this is a spring loaded type seal where the spring tries to squeeze the rubber onto the outer diameter of the spacer which creates the seal between cover and spacer. So to me, the alignment tool's outer diameter will be a bit larger than the spacer, close to a maximum diameter, This will center the seal on the spacer so the pressure exerted by the spring will be uniform around the spacer. The spacer would be a bit smaller so the potential, when using the spacer as an alignment tool, is to have the seal and timing cover slightly off center which would mean different pressures from the seal. Whether this difference in pressures is meaningful or not ???