jseklund

Airbag - I agree with you about the oil going into the cylinders. What I was saying is that, the valley was pretty full of fluid. When I pulled the spark plugs, the threads and tip had fluid all over them too - but after thinking about it, they would have had to - I had to pull the threads past a literal pool of fluid as I took them out. I was thinking I had it on both sides of the plug, but it could be possible that it was really only on one side until I unscrewed the plug.

But, this could be wishful thinking too. There was A LOT of fluid and I have a lot of miles on the car. Valve stem seals wouldn't be unheard of I wouldn't think. But, like I said, once I have the valve covers off and the timing belt off for the next TB job, I can pull the cams and lifters and that would be the easiest time to do those seals. I will see what I want to do in another 50-70K miles and plan on doing those seals if there are any issues. In the meantime, I will keep an eye on the plugs and oil consumption.

Airbag

i think you will be fine .. also keep in mind where all that oil went as soon as you pulled the plug out

But fix what you see before you fix what you cant see.. you have gasket issues so fix that first ..

Airbag

Just for future reference for anyone reading this. I am not sure what engine the OP had and maybe the alt does have to come out on that car .

But on my 2.8 i took it out through the passenger side wheel well . Although not a piece of cake , WAAAAy easier than taking the front off to remove the alternator first.

remove wheel and liner
remove CV heat shield.
remove inner CV joint bolts and drop down inside part of axle.
remove starter motor bolts
drop starter motor and remove wiring

angle out through passenger wheel well over top of Cv axle

Pat yourself on the back and have a beer .. coz the new one has to go back in ....

Gsrob

A couple more quick questions.... Could you tell whether or not the cam seals on the back of the motor were leaking as well as the v/c gasket? Or was it hard to tell? Also, after looking at over priced breather assemblies, I was wondering what you replaced. Did you buy the whole OEM kit for like $160 - 200+? I'll link the one I'm talking about. I'm also kind of wondering if the hoses can be purchased separately along with the pcv....

Breather Hose Kit

jseklund

OK, so I have the car running and everything back together and took it for a spin around the block. The power steering pump still whines a little at the fully locked out position left or right, but doesn't make any noise otherwise. The fluid looks to be nice and green in the reservoir and everything appears to be clean with very minimal air bubbles in the reservoir.

The problem I have now is - the wheel does not self-center as I go around turns. I did control upper and lower arms, tie rods, and a power steering rack. I obviously removed and re-installed the struts as a complete unit. I did my best to torque everything at ride height and the Bentley said 57 mm clearance between the upper arms and the top of the assembly when they were installed and I measured that as close as I could. There is no binding sounds or clunking and the car drives smooth.

I have not had it aligned yet, and will do that tomorrow or Wednesday - would that cause the steering not to center?

Thanks for all the help guys and sorry for all the confusion.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Poor alignment can contribute to it not wanting to self center but caster is generally the initiating force for self centering. I don't think caster or camber can be adjusted on the front end…toe is adjustable and then there are always adjustable upper control arms….

jseklund

I just put on adjustable upper control arms....so I'm wondering if this is just an alignment issue. Everything else seems to be great...but I hate to have it aligned and then find out the rack was bad....

jseklund

Could the fact that the struts have been hanging for 3-4 weeks be affecting the caster? I'm just thinking that if the springs have not compressed fully, maybe that is throwing something off too?

Stuff like this is always a pain - you don't know if you are overthinking it, or missing something simple, or if you should dig in and fix something while you are in there.

Airbag

hmmmmm... true allignment will effect centring. but to not centre at all ? im not sure about that. i dont know much about the rack but does sound suspicious

OGBULLYLOCDAWG

The alignment should sort out the issue with the steering not returning to center. Mines did the same thing after I replaced the rack, control arms, tie-rods and strut assemblies. Got the alignment done and it was good to go.