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[Doctor Gollum]

You only need to remove the corner next to the coil pack plug. If it's sodden, it will fall away easily enough.

[rds]

My parts arrived yesterday and I had the chance to work on the car this morning.

I tied to be gentle with the sponge: no joy and resorted to pulling it out as the experts hereinabove recommended!!

Battery this morning showed at 12.1v which is lower than I expected. The starter motor sounded different from the other day’s whizzing and closer to “usual”; the aux belts moved so the starter motor is engaging. No codes present but i managed to forget the better reader and used the more basic one again.

With new plugs and new coil car fired up right away but with some valve clatter; I assume the hydraulic tappets needed time to fill up again. Settled to an idle immediately at charging at 13.9v (no other load on)- note to self keep an eye on battery....

HOWEVER I think I still see an oil leak from the rear of the cam cover due to oil on driveway. The cam cover was supposed to go back dry (apart from front quarters per the Maintenance Guide) but I think that a thin layer of flange sealant would have been better here. Anyone agree/disagree?

Pending getting up on ramps (Saturday) and getting underneath to be sure, I have taken packs off to check the wells; some little oil still visible on paper towel which is worrying.

I would like to test the old coil pack cassette and plugs in due course. 4 plugs and 6 terminals in the connector…..I'll see if the manual lists the terminal pins, but if anyone has the info handy please post....

[Enceladus]

Did you clean out the crankcase breathers?
The seal is easily displaced on re-assembly at the semi circular cutouts at the back of the head. Have a feel with your fingers.
The gasket will seal if the mating surfaces are clean. No varnish or old sealer or gunge.
Did you obverse the very low torque and even tightening  for the cover? Too tight or uneven and the cover will warp and the seal will leak?
Some on here will also say that only a genuine Vauxhall part will work. Any reasonable quality seal should work. There were millions of this engine family made.

[rds]

all good points thanks Enceladus:

crank case breather cleaned about a year ago so will do again definitely
half moons seem in place; will check for leak now cooled down
mating surfaces clean as could be! no leaks on outside passenger side but suspect seepage into wells
yes 8Nm ech and used a sequential and criss-cross pattern working from inside out
yes genuine Vauxhall parts used

cheers

RDS

[Doctor Gollum]

Re the rear oil leak...

Are the half moons correctly seated?

They should feel as though they are about half an inch pound of both the cover and the head, it is really easy to misfit them and end up with oil everywhere 

[rds]

thanks, feeling the back of the cam cover yesterday they felt almost flush, maybe 2mm off the surfaces. Not good....

[Doctor Gollum]

Off the surface should be fine, visual check with a camera phone should confirm

It feels like 1/4, but the width of the seal flange is probably half that...

Those half moons are easy to pinch though...

[rds]

yes i found they were easy to get out of line especially as i had to wiggle in: there was little free space at the front to "drop" in.

[rds]

...that is, drop in the cam cover.

[rds]

By way of update I had another bash at the car today; the following may be of interest:
1 no codes stored even with a more comprehensive scanner (Foxwell NT414)
2 some water ingress into engine bay above spark plug wells - not convinced the removal of the sponge has really helped here....
3 cam cover is seating well and no apparent leaking oil
4 oil breather cleaned (was clean anyway though)
5 old oil cleaned off casings and components
6 changed New coil pack BACK to Old coil pack and tried to start…
7 fired up straight away so the coils may not have been the problem but rather those sorry 2 year old plugs (saved them for you to see)
8 check codes again and none stored, not even pending codes
9 oil and filter changed
10 attempted to get scuttle to windscreen seal to fit properly: FAILED.

Now, before undertaking item 6 I compared readings on both new and old coil packs: 6 terminals and 4 plug outlets:
1 resistances from what I took to be the SW feed to the CB (yes I know that it is not a points system, but for ease of explanation) terminals so as to test the primary resistance: 1.3 Ohms on both old and new packs
2 one non-primary reading across terminals was 0.9Ohms on old and new coil packs and
3 the last non-primary reading was “out of scale” even on 2MOhm scale
4 Trying to read secondary resistances yielded all as immediately out of scale  for the NEW coil pack on the 2MOhm scale but on the old coil pack the readings oscillated about before returning to "out of scale" or in two cases, settled at 400Ohm.

I am thing of leaving the OLD coil pack installed until I can be sure there is no oil leakage

Questions:
A anything odd occur to you with the readings comparing old and new coil packs?
B Do you think the old coil pack is suspect and bound to let me down if I use it on the road? I let car idle for about 30 mins with the old coil back in.
C can anyone please post clear pics of what they have done to stop water dripping onto the electrics and into the spark plug wells
D what IS the trick to get the windscreen to scuttle seal to sit flush and actually seal??? Push one place and it rucks up elsewhere or push everywhere and it then springs back....

I really would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread so far; it has really helped me!

Cheers

RDS

[Doctor Gollum]

Removing the foam allows the water to run down the bulkhead and drip out under the car  not much else to do.

Fitting the scuttle to screen rubber properly is a screen out job. You can bodge it, but as you have discovered it is almost impossible to fit the twist clips with the rubber in situ, so people don't bother and then the scuttle doesn't sit right. Sealant is not a solution. 

Re the new coil pack... Was it genuine Bosch/GM or some cheapy one? You get what you pay for with ignition parts

[johnnydog]

Fitting the scuttle to screen rubber properly is a screen out job. You can bodge it, but as you have discovered it is almost impossible to fit the twist clips with the rubber in situ, so people don't bother and then the scuttle doesn't sit right. Sealant is not a solution. 

Of course you can fit the scuttle clips with the lower screen rubber in situ!
As long as the rubber is in good condition, with no cracks along the lower edge due to perishing which will cause it to split, get a trim clip removal tool that is curved, slide it under the lower edge of the rubber, and with the aid of the tool and your thumb, lift the edge of the rubber, and using a pair of curved long nosed pliers place the clip in each hole in turn whilst moving along the rubber lifting it above each hole. Before you remove your thumb from above each hole, once the clip is in place, use a large flat screwdriver to press down on each clip and turn it through 90 degrees to secure.
Alternatively remove the lower trim (carefully - don't just pull it upwards or it will tear). I lift it from one end sliding a very thin screwdriver or hooked tool under the lip that sits in the retainer, and once started, slide a lubricated piece of insulated wire along its length which lifts the rubber completely from the retainer. To refit, make sure the groove in the retainer is clear of silt, clean the lower rubber trim, and lubricate it with silicone spray or lightly with some rubber grease, and gently feed it into the retainer pushing it down as you work along its length, ensuring it is in the right position at the end you start at.
If the scuttle twist clips are very tight to turn, if is usually because corrosion on the lower windscreen panel causes the metal to expand.

[rds]

Re the new coil pack... Was it genuine Bosch/GM or some cheapy one? You get what you pay for with ignition parts

thanks - It was a genuine Bosch/GM as is the new one.

RDS

[rds]

cheers Johnny Dog - however none of that actually rings a bell ref the removal/refit of the scuttle panel but it has been a while since i last took that off and i have done other cars that are differently secured since then, hence my confusion now.

Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing, i cannot get the rubber trim at the edge of the plastic scuttle panel to sit tight against the windscreen. I went to see another omega today today and that was even worse. So, are your instructions meant to deal with getting the rubber seal to sit correctly?

[rds]

Removing the foam allows the water to run down the bulkhead and drip out under the car  not much else to do.

Thanks again. Well, to test that, i laid a large garden waste plastic bag over the engine and left the rear area toward the bulkhead clear last night. By the morning after several hours of rain, I had collected a fair amount of water on it (not condensation). I therefore think that the water from the scuttle area does not run back to the bulkhead but instead drips through the gaps in the scuttle and then finds its way to the spark plug wells. Most annoying as this will just lead to a repeat of the same problem.