Got almost 6 quarts back out

Been loosing a quart to two quarts of oil for the last 150K + miles on my 98 and could not figure out where it was going. Did a water pump a couple of months ago and found the timing chain cover behind the harmonic balancer was loose along the bottom, the bolts had backed out and were only being held in by the balancer itself. Tightened them back up and finished up the water pump. Well, did my first oil change since then and got almost all 6 quarts back out, lost maybe a half a quart. I never looked in that area before, both the front skid and the splash guard always blocked that view. If you are loosing oil it might be a good spot to check.

I'll have to check that area.
So how many miles did you end up putting on that thing before the water pump went bad? I know it's up there.

I'm at a low 120,000 on my 99.

MAP

MAP said:

I'll have to check that area.
So how many miles did you end up putting on that thing before the water pump went bad? I know it's up there.

I'm at a low 120,000 on my 99.

MAP

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Water pump went around 275,000mi.

Are you still running the original starter and alternator?

Have your idler pulley bearings gone bad?

MAP said:

Are you still running the original starter and alternator?

Have your idler pulley bearings gone bad?

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Starter and alternator original, Idlers, 2x's, they get replaced every two years or whenever I do a belt. They never went bad I just do them as part of my PM sched.

I lost my idler at about 170,000 miles not a fun thing... I think im going to replace it every 2 yrs as part of PM thats a great idaea...

I agree. It's a good thing to do. It's not worth the headaches of having something like that fail when you're on a long trip or out exploring in the middle of nowhere...

You can change only the bearing inside the idler its a 6203-2RS or 6204-2RS I don't really remember but those are metric standard single row ball bearings with seals on both sides, you can get either for around 5 bucks at any bearing supplier.

The rest of the idler is just plain stamped steel and it should last for the life of the car.

SACEM