The front crankshaft oil seal leak finished my already weathered streering rack bushings which then swelled up and fell completly out. Four years ago I paid a repair place around $800 to do this job. So I am taking the plunge. The replacement parts were cheap enough so here i go...
Thought some of you would like to follow along and make comments or be inspired if your car needs the same repair.
Car way up on jack stands with jacks redundant in position for safety. Removed lower shield, drained coolant, and drained the oil... easy so far.
Unbolted the fan clutch and removed the radiator, shroud and fan. Good time to clean out a very dirty radiator. Removed all the belts along with the idler belt top tension bracket. Had to go to the hardware store and get two 6mmx80mm bolts to thread into my pully puller tool to get the main pulley off. Removed the timing belt cover and sure enough, you can see where the leaking oil was being spun off to the right inner side at the bottom of the cover. Set all engine timing marks to #1 TDC, pulled spark plug #1 to verify and then removed timing belt. My QX-4 is 4WD so it is time to remove front propeller shaft from the front axel. Wow those 14mm propeller shaft flange bolts were super tight. No room to use an impact wrench and socket. Ended up using a 4 foot long 2" DIA cheater pipe on a 14mm 6 point straight wrench to crack them loose!
-ok, tired.. time to stop. More later, chime in if you wish
