Hi all, need some assistance here. I just replaced the water pump on my bus, 2005 RE300. The old seal was crusty and was leaking between the seal and the timing cover. upon installation the two bolts that go through the timing case completely torqued perfectly to 23 FT lbs as the book indicates, the rest of the three bolts appear to go into the rear cover for the timing case. the alloy appears to be stripped out, I couldn't get a torque and stopped trying for worry of tearing out what threads remain. I have looked into repair using Time-Serts
https://time-serts.com/store/m8x1-25-thread-repair-kit/
This would do the job, but do I need to remove the front half of the timing cover to do the thread repair? Looking at the kit it certainly seems like I would need to. It's a lot of work to stop the leak, which is why I'm guessing the previous owner didn't do it. The lower three bolts holes are the ones in question.
I also replaced the thermostat when I did this project. It has a slow drip past the seal while running, but doesn't leak while parked. It started leaking while parked after temperature changes this winter.
I need to drive the bus tomorrow 180 miles and then return on sunday. Is this something that I can drive? I'm ok with using a gallon of coolant from a slow drip.
Thanks in advance.
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