Triumph Repair: timing cover bolt, crank pulley, bolt hole

Question
Howard, I have a 1974 spit IV, This weekend I took on the project of changing the timing cover gasket and crank seal. I removed the radiator. took off the crank pulley everything was good. Until I removed the the timing cover bolts One of the top cover bolts when I removed it I had water draining from the bolt hole. To me this seems weird is this ok? or do I have a problem? If water comes out of there couldn't it get behind the cover and into the oil one day? I just sealed up the bolt threads with blue rv sealer. and put it back in.. Any thoughts or have you ever seen this before or Am I worry for nothing? Thanks Bill

Answer
Hi Bill,
Yes it is something to keep in mind. It is possible to get a leak from the threads out to the cover gasket and if the gasket is not sealed well, it can migrate into the crankcase via the timing cover gasket. You should look at your oil often anyway so I would just watch for a color change of the oil as soon as water gets into the oil it starts to turn brown instead of black. The more the water, the lighter color brown it will get.

The RTV may hold well enough though. This is not an uncommon thing on many engines where either a too long of a bolt was installed and it pushed through into a water jacket or the manufacture of the block made a mistake in casting or drilled the hole too deep and went into a water jacket.

Howard