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well, that was easy. it looks like the offending seal was the one between the oil spool valve and the head. the spool valve had a ton of oily mess around it and when i removed it and tried to get the old seal out, it was so brittle that it snapped and came out in several pieces. i put the new one in, started the car and looked for obvious catastrophic leaks, all is well so far but time will tell.
there is another seal between the lower and upper parts of the spool valve. i bought that one at the same time since i wasn't sure what i'd find once i pulled things apart but that one does not appear to be leaking right now so i think i will leave it for the time being.
access was easy. unplug the 3 electrical harnesses. remove the small coolant hose that goes to the throttle body. to remove the three 10 mm bolts that fasten the spool valve to the head, use a 1/4" drive ratchet on the lower and passenger side bolts and a regular wrench on the driver side bolt. put a rag under the valve. pop the valve off.
if you want to separate the lower and upper portions of the spool valve, crack the three 10 mm bolts on top of the valve before you remove it from the head. easier than trying to do it on the bench later.
for those interested, the seals were beck arnley and the part #s were as follows:
block-to-spool-valve seal: 039-6578 ($20)
lower-to-upper-spool-valve seal: 039-6620 ($27)
pretty steep prices for such tiny pieces of rubber! i'm in canada so they might be slightly cheaper in the US but anything over $2 for these things is highway robbery IMO. oh well, i guess we're still laughing getting 40 mpg in a $1000 car.
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