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[kcl]

Yesterday morning, minus 25 degrees Celsius, driving to work and suddenly left side of engine bay is full of oil. Blown cam cover gasket was the first assumption, which can be right. Could not tell looking at the gasket while removing the covers. They look intact. Mystery starts here: the breather system is clean as a whistle! Some oil residue, yes, nothing else, no crud, no mayo anywhere. Down inside air intake, in the bottom of bagpipe system, some moisture was found, mainly water I think, but nothing to block anything.

Question is: what else could be leaking? If it was oil filter housing or oil cooler hoses the oil pressure would have dropped? Head gasket would leak water?

I have never ever seen nor heard an Omega suffering from frozen breathers, Vectra C with 3,2 engines do have this problem but never an Omega. Also never in my past this has occured and it has been colder around here and also have had non-serviced breathers on Omegas which have survived the winter.

Yesterday it took some two hours to wash the engine and clean all parts up, today I'm planning to put in new (GM) cam cover gaskets and o-rings with some black goo, fill up the oil and see if it is cured. Only two years back the gaskets were replaced and breathers have been cleaned at least once since that. 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Are the oil cooler pipes tight in the block, I have seen three occasioans where an oil cooler has been changed by bending the cooler pipes and the connections then work loose, it fires oil all over the place!

[kcl]

Thanks, will check that also. Though when my cooler was opened the pipes were detached from the connections near oil filter. But you'll never know... But then again, would it not loose oil pressure in that case?

[kcl]

Car is back on the road again, it was the cam cover gasket that leaked, replaced both sides and oil remains inside the engine. Quite a mess as oil was all over the place.

Wonder why it leaked? As said, breathers were clean. One assumption is that the "breather-unit" behind right-hand head had some moisture inside and the rubber diaphram inside it was frozen?