Oil leak on cam housing.

[Cushing]

Would you believe it, after all that hard work getting engine out and re-building it, and then getting in the car again, it's developed an oil leak on the lower cam housing. Not sure why, maybe I didn't use enough sealant on it. What's the best to use ?

[Vulcan Grey]

The cam tower to head sealant must be a very thin layer of an anaerobic sealant like Loctite 518 or 5188, or Permatex Anaerobic Gasket Maker.

[top-plumber]

Torque settings in this area are crucial. My threads were weak and I couldn't tighten down enough so after about 100 miles a leak developed. Only way to fix is helicoil. I would recommend this as a matter of course when rebuilding anyway.

Regards

Wayne

[Vulcan Grey]

Yea, I had to helicoil many of mine, so I just did them all.

[mr.oogieboogie]

Put a new gasket on mine. Now seems ok

[Cushing]

Can you get a gasket for them ?

[Chillidoggy]

There's no gasket for them, just the recommended jointing material.

[top-plumber]

I think Peter might mean cam covers not towers. Even if you were to make a gasket it would put all your valve clearances to cock.....as Travis said...... sealent

[mr.oogieboogie]

Yes sorry. Cam covers. Tried sealent on them but no good

[Peteric]

I used permabond (think it was A136). Looks like what top plumber has in his photos. However i was still getting a leak in that area (between cam tower and exhaust manifold towards front of engine) and couldn't figure where it was coming from. Turns out it was weeping through one of the oil way bungs that are basically allen grub screws. These are originally loctited in i believe.

[Cushing]

I used Permabond, and a gasket type sikaflex on the pins/O-rings on the ends, but maybe not enough. I'll have to take it off and maybe think about heliciols. Thanks for the input.

[Cushing]

Went to re-torque one of the cam housing bolts and it stripped :-( so engine's coming out again to redo the cam housings, going to helicoil the lot. What size kit should I buy ? i,ie which two thread size do I need ?

[Cushing]

It seems that most of them have already been tapped out to 10mm, so now plan to get a M10 helicoil kit and see how that goes, wish me luck because if this fails it's a new head !! 

[glynherron]

Had the cam towers been drilled to suit the M10 tapped holes?

When I disassembled mine they were massively tight. Think they are only 20nm

[Cushing]

I like the sound of massively tight, mine were torqued up to about 22nm and the lower tower leaked on the lower edge, maybe insufficient sealant or they were not de-greased enough. Drilling the towers out to 10mm will be ok, there is plenty of meat to do this. I will also check them for twist or warping.   

[Cushing]

Job done, and very pleased with the result. I used "Time-sert" M8 kit, much better than helicoils. Just waiting for new set of bolts and the Permabond.