Hello,

I purchased my 2004 X-type a couple months ago for cheap, mostly likely because it has 160,000 miles and the transfer case was apparently on it's way out.. So, I am currently in the process of swapping out the TC and am wondering if there are any recommendations for other common repair items that will be much easier to take care of while I'm already under there.

Now I know there are a couple of leaky areas under the car, not to the point of leaving oil on the driveway, but enough to coat the underside while driving. One area that I can tell is leaking is the oil pan and also the front main seal. It seems to me that once the transfer case is out, the oil pan would be pretty easy to remove. Is this true? Does anybody have experience replacing the main crank seals? I'm guessing the hard part will be getting the balancer/pulley off.

This is also equipped with a manual transmission and I have a feeling that it still has the original clutch. Would now be a good time to replace the clutch? Are there any specific aftermarket brands to look for/stay away from?

I could also probably use new spark plugs, but that seems pretty straight forward.

Anyway, sorry for all the questions, but advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Nate

 

Definitely going to want to do your oil pan gasket while the case is out. Taking the case out is 90% of the work. Just a heads up with higher mileage X-Types in the midwest the exhaust is going to fight you tooth and nail and most of the fasteners won't even have hex's on them anymore. You are going to want to have acetylene ready, they are going to need to be glowing red and sometimes broken loose with an air hammer with a chisel bit. Also, there is are a few super tricky bolts that will require fabricating an old distributor wrench to fit or a snap on t-handle ratchet wrench.

 

Thanks RC,

I went ahead and picked up a new gasket today and also found a junkyard T-case with only 50,000 miles on it. Hopefully it will last at least as long as the original unit.

I managed to remove the old t-case myself over the course of a few weeknights. I was a bit lucky in the fact that this car spent the first half of its life in California so rust wasn't really all that bad. In fact, I only broke one bolt over the entire job! That infamous "tricky" bolt definitely stood up to its reputation. I think it probably took a total of an hour and a half to get that one out..

Do you know if there is any harm in leaving the one tricky bracket bolt out when I reassemble? I am not sure that there is a good way to re-tighten it, let alone getting decent torque on it.

 

Take the bracket (the one with the tricky bolt) to a bench grinder and grind a very small amount of material off the two bosses that you took the two catalytic convertor support bolts out of (the two 10mms) that will make re-installation of the bracket somewhat easier. As far as the tricky bolt, you can in a pinch *cough* get it close to tight. I have a wrench specifically for that bolt and it's still annoying.