Injectors, Plenum, Crank/ Front Seal, Oil Pan

[Brew Q]

About to tackle this job - front seal and oil pan... and a whole slew of other stuff while it's apart:

phase 2 injectors and 94-96 fuel rail
NGK iridiums
Trans mount - covered in rust, no other rust on the car, looks out of place and old!
under plenum hoses were done recently, but may change them anyway
Mazworx engine mounts
misc. gaskets: IACV, TB, EGR?
Now the steering rack is creaking at low/ no speed -- no groans from the pump though

I have 90k on the beast, not that that matters much - when in doubt change it out!

What parts am I missing?

[BCC93QT]

Knocks and harnesses maybe? Vacuum line, fuel line, plenum gaskets, reseal valve cover gaskets, maybe rebuilding the steering rack?

[mattd1979]

I'd go ahead and pull it and mount it on a stand. Then you can replace everything easily minus the rear main seal. You will need to remove it from the stand for access.

[elwesso]

I wouldn't bother with the hoses if they're been done recently. you'll have close to $800 in hoses if you do, so it's not a nominal expense.

How do you know the steering rack is creaking and it's not something else (like a bushing or ball joint).

If you're pulling the intake for the injectors, you'll need the 8 intake donuts, EGR gasket (although I typically reuse mine, no issues), IAC gasket, and TB gasket. That's the minimum required.

Is the front main seal leaking? It's not too common that those seals leak unless there's something else wrong.. Could it be the front of the oil pan is leaking against the front cover?

[Brew Q]

Could it be the front of the oil pan is leaking against the front cover?

YES and the oil pan is definitely leaking, just haven't cleaned everything off to narrow down exactly where. I thought the front main might be, but I just replaced a clamp on the PCV valve and 1 adjacent to it (which was leaking and causing gunk to collect below it onto the front cover). Plus the guides were done by Jerry Tucker not 15k miles ago, so fingers crossed it isn't leaking. Good to know about the hoses, they're staying if they look good.

Can you remove the oil pan tho without touching the front cover?

[elwesso]

Yea you can pull the oil pan off without messing with the front cover, it bolts to the front cover. Usually when people do the guides they just unbolt the handful of bolts that bolts to the front cover, and then attempt to just reseal that area.. Usually works, but not always. The oil pan is a bit tricky to get off with the engine in the car. This should help:

removing-oil-pan-without-dropping-cross ... 65344.html

[Brew Q]

Sweet, copied and pasted that into my Q word file. Good to know, b/c I don't think the front is leaking, oil pan though is another story!

I think I still have to drop the cross member to change motor mounts, but going to kill about 8 birds with 1 stone

[elwesso]

I believe you can lift the engine and replace the engine mounts....