well today was a fun day! managed to get oil just about every possible place today LOL.

got the harmonic balancer off, timing cover off, and the oil pan off!

first i cleaned up a little bit of the front of the engine with some simple green and brake cleaner.




then it came to remove the harmonic balancer pulley. used a ball joint pickle fork wedged between the a/c bracket and the pulley to hold it steady to loosen. 15/16 socket and a very large breaker bar and the bolt was free!





timing cover removed



oil pan removed. pics







good news is there is no coolant in the oil! which i didn't really think there was. didn't get any pics of the screen on the oil pickup tube but it was perfect. no evidence of being clogged at all. also the green o-ring where the tube connects to the oil pump is in perfect shape as well. so it looks like the oil pump is going to be the culprit of my oil pressure problems (i hope! *cross fingers*)

also zero evidence of any oil sludge problems. although there is some strange residue on the bottom inside the oil pan, probably just due to a shitty gasket.

i know i have to drill out the rivets to replace the oil pan gasket, but should i rivet the new gasket into the oil pan as well? want to do this once, and do it right.

also is it bad to be leaving my truck outside without the oil pan and timing cover? there's only a 10% chance of rain in the next couple days and temps will be 60-90*. plan to have this back together by tuesday afternoon. should i cover it with a trash bag or something?

 

Why replace the gasket it should be fine. I put a bead of hi temp copper RTV around mine for extra insurance no issues.

 

i'm almost 90% sure its leaking. there's literally oil dripping off of almost every bolt at the back of the engine. no idea where its leaking from. but i want to just replace every gasket regardless. i know the rear main seal probably leaks too, but thats going to have to wait. do not feel like dropping the trans right now.

 

finally all coming together. Got the oil pan gasket, oil pump, timing cover gasket, front main seal, power steering pump, power steering fluid filter, power steering pulley, lower radiator hose, water pump, water pump gaskets, thermostat, thermostat housing, driver side valve cover gasket, a/c belt tensioner, and main belt tensioner all replaced!! phew that was a mouth full. also everything is torqued to spec and ready to go.

all thats left is upper radiator hose, a/c belt, main belt, passenger side valve cover gasket, and a bunch of fluids! everything mentioned is all brand new and a/c delco brand parts. all gaskets are felpro.

still going to order some new spark plugs and wires. and probably heater core hoses as well. yep, i'm crazy lol

not that yall care about all that. fun pics

driver side valve cover as clean as its going to get

thought about painting them, but i just want to get it all back together and running. i can always go back later and paint them

engine current status

aftermarket power steering filter

shiney new water pump

 

Nice work, good thing you replaced oil pan gasket -- rubber on the old one looks compressed.

 

yeah at 200k miles i'd be surprised if it wasn't!

also forgot to mention i bought a new harmonic balancer pulley bolt as required for re-installation. considering the gm dealership is literally across the street and the bolt was under $5, i don't see why not

regardless, can't wait to get this thing back on the street and hope for nothing but smooth sailing from here! well as smooth as it can be. gonna coat this entire engine bay in degreaser and try and get it somewhat respectable

 

its done!!! she's finally running again and things are looking good for the most part! oil pressure is now back to normal. nice solid 40 psi at idle and goes up with rpms perfectly. kinda bummed about my steering as its just about the same just less noise. think i'm going to add another power steering cooler though. when i accidentally touched the line near the top of the cooler it was ******* HOT. i know its going to be hot, but i figured why not do another since i've got oversized tires and why not just grab another one from the junk yard and fab it up right next to it to run in series.

other thing i've noticed is after looking at the rear of the engine, i'm pretty sure there's still oil coming out. looks like i'll be replacing the rear main seal and rear crank cover gasket sooner more than later. not looking forward to pulling the trans thats for sure... but that will have to be for another day. till then i'll just keep my eye on the oil level as usual. drove it around for about 20 minutes and made sure all the fluids are topped off. i'll check everything again tomorrow after its sat for the night. then give her a MUCH needed bath and clean up the engine bay.

oh and i never put up a pick of the tahoe, so here's one with another member from GMFS