Should I be driving with a timing chain cover leak?

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latlog7

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I have a car trade with somebody and we are about 3 hours away. The only problem is that the other person's truck (a 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9L) has a pretty decent coolant leak from the timing chain gasket. My plan was to simply bring gallons and gallons of coolant and water and pull over on the side of the road frequently.

My only concern is for the safety of the truck due to the location of the leak. I am afraid the coolant might be prone to getting into the oil lines, and I don't want to cause a ton of wear on the motor on the long ride back home.

What are your thoughts? Is this a good idea, decent idea, or terrible idea?
What are the chances that the coolant would be leaking into the oil lines.


I searched for related forum posts but could not find any
 
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latlog7

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Obviously I would like to replace the gasket first before driving, but I would NEED to drive it home to fix it
 

dodge dude94

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Best option would be to trailer it, imo
I drove my truck with a timing cover leak for over a year, probably two years before the water pump let loose. BUT! It was a slow leak.
 

Gr8bawana

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Why would coolant be coming from behind the timing chain cover? Shouldn't there only be oil behind it. It's probably leaking from the water pump.
If you're talking about the trans cooling lines they are under high pressure and would be leaking very severly if they were bad no, coolant is going to get into them.
 
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dodge dude94

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Timing cover has water passages in it, so yeah, you can get water from the timing cover. I had it. lol
 

root0091

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Timing cover has water passages in it, so yeah, you can get water from the timing cover. I had it. lol

Its a v10 8L, but similar to any other Magnum, red is where coolant travels through the timing chain cover.

4.JPG
 

dodge dude94

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Its a v10 8L, but similar to any other Magnum, red is where coolant travels through the timing chain cover.

4.JPG

And that's what I'm referring to....do you not realize the gasket can bust to the outside?
 

Gr8bawana

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Luckily I've never had to tear into my 5.9 so I learned something new today. :happy107:
 
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latlog7

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Thanks for the input! I'm going to look into u-hauling it, but I think I'll have some difficulty since it has big 40" tires :/ We'll see!
 
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latlog7

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So the seller just got me a picture of the leak! Is anyone able to decipher what this actually is? It's hard to get an idea of the perspective of this picture
timing%20chain%20cover.png_zpshudto47f.jpg.html
 
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latlog7

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Ehh, nevermind. uhauling is expensive with the "extended miles" and I found that the truck wont fit on their traditional auto towing bed lol. I greatly appreciate all the responses though!
 

root0091

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Its really not that bad to do. Service instructions below, along with labor times.
5.JPG

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Parts pricing below:
7.JPG
 

dapepper9

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That's a ways to drive it. Ask if you can see video of it running to see how bad the leak is. If it's trickling out fairly continuously on video bad idea to drive it.

I will say though I've done worse things to mine
 
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