As usual, I have made some notes along the way and I would appreciate your comments.
1. Visually, the leaking gasket seemed sound. Had I just cleaned the blocked breathers, is there a chance that the leak would stop? Or is it the case that if once breached the gasket will never stop leaking? This could be important, because potentially the advice we give to users asking about leaking camcovers could be ‘clean the breathers first and then see what happens’?
2. The lesson is that changing the oil frequently is important but not enough – the breathers will get blocked even if the oil is changed, although it might take some 50k miles before they do. As often said by others here, the breathers need to be cleaned as a maintenance task, perhaps every 20k? Also, the goo seems not unlike the mayo that forms on the filler cap after short journeys, so I suspect that short journeys are a major contributor to the blocked breathers problem even if the oil is changed etc.
3. In my case, the ‘branch’ rubber hose going from the rear of the breather box to the back of the engine was completely blocked as well, and needed to be removed in order to be cleaned. Undoing and redoing the clip at the base can be very fiddly if not near impossible with the plenum in place (luckily mine was off), though perhaps removing the scuttle could help… at any rate I hope that regular cleaning of the top breather box will eliminate the need to remove and clean the rubber hose.
4. As others commented, it is practically impossible to fully clean the breather box and either way it is very time consuming. I suppose that a high-pressure air gun with a canister full of carb cleaner will do the trick, but this is not available to most DIY. I would suggest buying a new breather box every 20k… it would be interesting to find out how much are they. Alternatively, if someone does have the right kit for quick cleaning, perhaps a replacement service would work? Send you clogged (but not broken) breather box and get a shiny clean one for a Tenner? Just a thought.
5. On another note, I am unimpressed with the newly-bought Sealey 1/4" low-torque wrench (5-25NM), it has a play of 1 gradient, i.e. even after locking the base, the handle can easily be rocked from side to side by about one gradient. For the camcover, I opted for the ‘safe’ bet of 7-8NM, based on the hope that what matters is that they are all equal rather than the actual torque, and that in a worst case scenario even the 7NM would be good enough. For the Plenum bolts I went for 8-9NM, based on the assumption that the intake O rings are heftier and will not be damaged by a potential extra 1NM. I am going to raise this as a warranty issue with Sealey, but this will be too late for me…
6. In contrast, my two Draper torque wrenches are clearly marked and a pleasure to use. I also have a low-cost ‘Clark’ one bought from Machine & Mart for around £15, it does work but has an unpleasant low-quality feel to it and the dial is marked in odd sequence and is not very clear to read.
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Topic: Camcover gasket replacement – full report (Read 4364 times)