Priceless!

Maybe Barry was being prudent and was also changing the two O-rings between the back half of the front cover and the engine block.

I do, every time I replace a water pump and timing belt on a 3.5.

Maybe Barry was being prudent and was also changing the two O-rings between the back half of the front cover and the engine block.

I do, every time I replace a water pump and timing belt on a 3.5.

And do you charge $870.00?

Richard.

I agree that one cam bolt (the passenger side if I recall correctly) needs to come out to get the cover off and get access to the O-Ring.

From personal experience, take the extra 30 minutes and remove the bolt/cover then replace the 3 rear O-rings. Remember to properly clean up the aluminum cover plate and the cast iron block channels that the ring slips into since they will undoubtedly be badly pitted/corroded from the use of dissimilar metals in the design. I also use a small amount of RTV sealant on the O-Rings to assure a good seal and fill in the pitted area after a thorough wire brushing.

As to the need to remove the cam bolt to replace the timing belt or the water pump, this is not necessary unless you are changing the rear O-Rings. Maybe the shop was confused and was talking about the crankshaft balancer bolt? (Which also need not be removed since you can coerce the belt around it if you try. But, makes more sense given this situation.)

If you are doing the timing belt, do replace the water pump and all the O-Rings too. In the end it will save you time and money to do it all the first time.

Nope.

Agreed 100%. Sounds like you do the job exactly as I do them and probably for the same reasons.

Remember, we're getting this story third hand, and I'm certain it's somewhat colored by the fact that TNKEV failed in educating his customer and the subsequent loss of repeat business on an easy and profitable job. i.e., TNKEVs oil change special customer left his establishment with some bad impressions for -some- reason.

My customer lives about 50 miles from here and works about 1 mile from here, he does come in for regular oil changes. what he failed to tell me is that he was leaking coolant,the o'rings are being replaced as we speak and saving my customer a little over $200.00 including his tow bill. he has also promised to never take it to an outside garage again, and I did tell him they were attempting to repair his vehicle correctly they were just ripping him off. people always think the dealer is more expensive but that is not true in every case.

OMG dont mention dealer to aarcuda!!!

It's a shame that your original post failed to convey that message...

Quite true. Had that customer put a little effort into checking around, he probably could have saved himself some grief.

The part that confuses me is; if this customer puts on 100 miles a day commuting to work, and your shop is the one that does the oil service, how did the coolant leak get past your mechanic on the last oil change? (given that in 12 years experience with the

I don't have a problem with dealers, just prima-donnas.

I must say again, you are such an ass!!! how does a lite bulb work today and not tomorrow. Will you ever get a life...The sad thing is, you say " The part that confuse me" if that part confuses you, I would hate to see you work on anyone's vehicle.

Maybe that was the day it started??? Get a life cuda

Don't those cams have to be timed when you take that pully off? Am I missing something? I thought they were not keyed. It said something about that in the shop manual, so I dared not touch them.

Correct.

The sprocket was keyed when I had mine off on my 1996 3.5L. Note that I did not need to remove the cam itself to take off the sprocket and that there were alignment marks for both of the cam sprockets and the crankshaft to make sure the timing belt is installed correctly when you are done.

Bob

If the information was not known (the leak) at the time of the original post, how could one possibly convey that information at that time. The part that they were 'ripping him off' was quite clear to me in the OP.

Hmmm, I do not remember any mention of "gushing coolant from the pump/o-rings", only that it was leaking. Leaks do not develop over time, they worsen over time. The actual leak (and any signs of it) may have quite easily occurred between/since oil changes, so nothing confusing here.

Any mechanic with any amount of experience knows that the block to timing cover O-rings are a weak point and will automatically include them any time they do a timing belt on a 3.5 or 3.2. It's called "a complete repair."

That they were ripping them off was -not- quite clear, what was quite clear is/was TNKEVs lack of experience and eagerness to belittle another repair shop.

So if a vehicle comes in your shop with a faulty water pump at say 30k and the timing belt is saturated with coolant, you would dissassemble and replace the o_rings? HMM talk about ripping someone off