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[bluey]

While reading lots of posts from esteemed Mig owners I had flown past the various comments about the cam covers leaking, safe in the knowledge that mine were nice and tight and not letting a drop of OPECs finest get away.

Well, while on the way on a 200-mile round trip for a job interview earlier today, I paused to take a call and pulled off at the Frankley services on the M5 to be met with the sight of smoke billowing out from under the bonnet.  It smelt oily so I felt reasonably safe in opening up to take a look, and spotted a lovely huge patch of dark congealed semi-synthetic all over the manifolds.  So that put the mockers on making the job interview and I crawled back the few miles to home, feeling downright annoyed as well as very blimmin' worried about it catching fire. 

Called the local dealer and the prices appear to have gone up a fair bit since Mark DTM's nifty guide on sorting this problem out - I just saw the date on it and it was 4 years ago so that's to be expected I guess. The gasket set is £37.78 inc VAT, while the O rings are 19pence each and the sealant is £4.14. 

[markh1]

I am going to tackle this problem on the weekend, my thread here....

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1287578717

....may help in regards to sourcing the parts cheap.

[bluey]

That's excellent and thanks for the info. I will give Andy a call straight away. 

[bluey]

Can I just say - AndyC, top work fella and thanks for taking the time to sort out a gasket set. 

[bluey]

Right then, the bits arrived this morning and have got my head suitably scratched but I reckon I'll fathom it out pretty quickly.  Reading the how-to guide again to get it in my bonce and I'll start diving in.  This being the first time I've worked on this engine I'll be taking my time, and hopefully will do an oil change afterwards, although I'm a bit suspicious of the filter I have bought - it doesn't look right to me.  Ho hum, I'll find out in time I suppose.

[Welung666]

Give me a shout if you get stuck and I'll come help

[bluey]

I might do just that.  The 4 breather pipes on the rear of the plenum are absolutely refusing to move which is beginning to get right on my moobs!

[Welung666]

I might do just that.  The 4 breather pipes on the rear of the plenum are absolutely refusing to move which is beginning to get right on my moobs!

Just tease them back with a large(ish) flat blade screwdriver, they tend to bond to the fitting tubes. Be very careful not to snap the thinner 2 in the centre though

[bluey]

I did have a bit of a go broadly as you suggested earlier, but stopped as I was a bit worried about doing any damage to the pipes on the plastic box.  I'll have another go first thing in the morning and see if a bit more worrying of them as you mentioned will do the trick. 

Been a bit frustrating, not so much the car but the weather which has been stop/start rain. 

While I think about it, the throttle cable - how is it connected to the lever arm?  It looks a bit like a clip-over balljoint of some description but it won't budge even though the retainer clip has been removed.

[Welung666]

They are quite tight but they do pop off (answer applies to both breather pipes and throttle linkage )

PM on it's way now

[bluey]

No worries then, just me being a bit of a nervous nerys in tackling it.  And thanks very much for the PM, hope the reply made some sort of sense. 

[Welung666]

No worries then, just me being a bit of a nervous nerys in tackling it.  And thanks very much for the PM, hope the reply made some sort of sense. 

Perfect sense, shame the same can't be said for my reply

[markh1]

I did have a bit of a go broadly as you suggested earlier, but stopped as I was a bit worried about doing any damage to the pipes on the plastic box.  I'll have another go first thing in the morning and see if a bit more worrying of them as you mentioned will do the trick. 

Been a bit frustrating, not so much the car but the weather which has been stop/start rain. 

While I think about it, the throttle cable - how is it connected to the lever arm?  It looks a bit like a clip-over balljoint of some description but it won't budge even though the retainer clip has been removed.

I changed my rocker cover gaskets today. Was a fairly straight forward job!

Regards the throttle linkage, I did not notice the small clip and just levered it off with a screw driver. Like the others have said, slide a screw driver under the breather pipes to lever them off. You could also try spraying some silicone or other lubricant under them to help.

At the same time I changed the plugs and also did a mild port and polish on the throttle butterflies. The car is noticeable more responsive now, must have been ages since the plugs were changed!

[Osprey]

I might do just that.  The 4 breather pipes on the rear of the plenum are absolutely refusing to move which is beginning to get right on my moobs!

Just tease them back with a large(ish) flat blade screwdriver, they tend to bond to the fitting tubes. Be very careful not to snap the thinner 2 in the centre though

Shoot me if I'm stating the obvious but when you pull a tube it gets longer and thinner.  Longer doesn't matter but thinner makes them grip even tighter. 

So, as Welung says, pushing is the way to go.   

[bluey]

Well, after a rather cold day over with Welung the car is now leak free on the one guilty bank and feels far more responsive thanks to the breather system being cleaned out while the various bits were off the car - it doesn't feel slightly asthmatic and reluctant to rev.  As there was a bit of slack in the throttle cable that was ironed out when being put back on and is much better at the pedal.  It's funny how just tiny little details like that can make such a major improvement.

Huge thanks for the help and advice squire, the bad news is that I'll be back to do the cambelt.