In January I noticed my newer to me 94 F250 460 had coolant pooling on top of the engine, near the distributor shaft. This would only occur sometimes, and was not a lot of coolant. This started happening after I changed the thermostat because of a persistent temperature control issue. (I cleaned a bunch of the muck off of the engine when I replaced the thermostat) The truck normally ran cold (too cold), but the temp would shoot up at times. The usual symptom was running cold until I came to a stop, then it would get hot, and slowly come down as I started to drive again. (The weather change meant it was cold outside and I wanted heat in the cab!) I replaced the thermostat with a 195 degree unit (Robert Shaw). This did not fix the temperature fluctuation problem. I found out it previously had an 180 degree thermostat in it (signs that someone had temperature issues in the past?). While this helped it run a bit warmer, it would still spike. I had already replaced the radiator because the plastic was broken on the one that came in the truck. (Replaced with a Champion aluminum unit)
It turns out that the top of the timing cover was cracked. (Right where the center bolt hole is). That was less than ideal, but did not seem to be a root cause of my temperature control issues.

This left me with the idea that I needed to replace the water pump. I found a clean used factory Ford timing cover on eBay and purchased a FlowKooler water pump with the idea that I would tackle the water pump and timing cover at the same time. Since I was that far in I decided I should replace the water pump backing plate too.

Once all my parts arrived I pulled off the two accessory brackets and pushed them to the side, pulled the timing cover and water pump. I found that one of the timing cover bolts had been broken off (the head was missing). I was able to remove the remaining bolt with a little bit of heat and penetrating oil. I am sure some of you will be shocked at what I found next. First of all, there was no water pump backing plate! Then when the timing cover came off I got another surprise. You will notice from the picture below that a previous owner probably did not like changing the engine oil.


I checked the timing chain for slack.... and to say the least, it was sloppy. So then I ordered a replacement timing set. (Cloyes) Once that came in I replaced timing chain and gears, after a bit of careful cleaning. I used the Fel-Pro timing cover gaskets, water pump backing plate, and water pump gasket (I used gasket sealant on the gaskets). I left the original rubber oil pan seal in place (I did not cut it and replace it with the section from the Fel-Pro kit)

I finished buttoning everything up and refilled it with coolant yesterday. I was hopeful that I would not have any leaks. So far, so good. No external coolant leaks. No coolant mixing with oil. No catastrophic failures (lol). To top it off, the engine warms up (just barely touching the "N" in normal) and stays put. Success!!!

Thanks for reading, thought I would share. (Feel free to ask more questions)
Scott

 

Timing covers on older Fords are prone to leak anyway. I've replaced 2 on 460s (one of them mine) and on a 302 (also mine).