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[humbucker]

Last weekend I replaced the cam covers on The Mothership, drivers side fine, but awkward passengers side looked like it was leaking again from the back, albeit not as much.

Cleaned up engine, took passengers side off again, repositioned and resealed. Looked fine. Drove it 40 miles. No problem. Next day drove it 10 miles to the supermarket and smoke appearing, not collossal amounts, not as bad as it has been, but obviously leaking. Looks like smoke appearing from front to centre of cam cover on passengers side edge.

Initially it looked as though the smoke was coming from the gap inbetween the exhaust heat shield cover and base, as though oil had dripped down there, so I got power washer and blitzed the engine bay and all around that area.

Now it's all clean and shiny but smoke appearing still from same area.

Is it possible that oil is appearing from another leak somewhere as I don't really want to take cam cover off again to reposition without investigating other possibilities. Wouldn't be so bad if it was the drivers side cover!! If not I guess I'll have to reposition seal again but I wondered if there was another possible source around the oil filler area that I could look at that might be a bit further down?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[MutantCav]

Used genuine Vaux gaskets? Black sealant?? Only put sealant in the designated places? And so on...

[bobbertbear]

i have exactly the same problem an i've had the cam covers off three times an still a leak from somewhere

[humbucker]

yep used all GM parts, GM black sealant, replaced all O rings as well as main cam cover gaskets, checked half moons still in place etc etc

checked today, dry as a bone all round although front corner a bit difficult to get at cos of dipstick etc. just wondered before i took it all apart again if there is anything else i can check for in the area mentioned maybe something else that would spit oil out?

[humbucker]

and how warped do cam covers need to be before they need replacing? if the previous 'cam cover cover fitter' had overtightened bolts and this had warped that cover would it be slight or fairly obvious? i laid this one flat on the concrete to see if it was out of shape but it appeared to be ok...

[amba]

Are you sure it is not old oil residue just burning off,and infact the gaskets are seated correctly ? Did you thoroughly clean all the breathers,I have read soo many reports of "warped "cam covers which I think is a myth,,they would need to get very hot before they distorted enough.Lets hope is is just old oil burning off.

[humbucker]

yeah i cleaned breathers very thoroughly, although to be honest they were in good nick from the last time anyway. i jet blasted the whole lot with the power washer too to make sure any excess oil was removed, this included the engine bay, the cover areas and the underside of the car. you would be hard pressed to find a cleaner example at the moment haha! so any oil should have gone, i dont think it would be old stuff.

i won't be able to do anything about it for the next week or two anyway now so i'll monitor it and see if it disappears. it is fairly intermittent which makes me think that it's all clear and then a drip is landing on exhaust manifold and burning off. i wondered if this could be possible from another area other than cam cover on the passengers side? whatcha reckon?

[amba]

Don,t think there is anything else that would leak on that side.Is it a puff of smoke when pulling up or just once every so often ? Only other areas around there are dipstick,but a bit far back for manifold and filler.When parked and cold if you rub your finger around the cam cover is it oily?

[humbucker]

Don,t think there is anything else that would leak on that side.Is it a puff of smoke when pulling up or just once every so often ? Only other areas around there are dipstick,but a bit far back for manifold and filler.When parked and cold if you rub your finger around the cam cover is it oily?

just every so often, as though its fine but then the occasional drip is causing a bit of smoke. as mentioned before, i can travel 40 miles and get nothing or can travel 10 and get smoke. no rhyme or reason to it really.

checked when cold this morning and the cam cover is dry as anything all round, although at the front corner was  bit squidgy. i put this down to the excess sealant.

well if nobody thinks there are any other areas, half way along cam cover and below cam cover somewhere, that could be causing the problem it looks like i'm faced with repositioning it again. bah.

of course, in the meantime if anyone thinks of anything else it might be i would be thrilled to hear about it!! can do without having to do this 47 times!

 

[ians]

Just give it a few weeks mate before taking it off again.  When I have done this before I found it does take a some time before the old residual oil gets burnt off.

BTW I would also not recommend being over agressive with the pressure washer.  That can do damage - physical and electrical all over the place.

[humbucker]

thing is, i can hear it dripping i think. this morning, 40 mile journey to work, popped bonnet when i stopped, smoke from area around dipstick / front part of cam cover, heard a 'tsssss' sound as though a drip of oil on hot exhaust manfold. wasn't sure where smoke coming from, opened oil filler cap, smoke coming out of there too.

any ideas?

[Marks DTM Calib]

Lol, the smoke out the oil filler is blow by gases and is as expected!

Its not leaking from the filler neck seal?

[humbucker]

Lol, the smoke out the oil filler is blow by gases and is as expected!

oops hehehe    better to be safe than sorry i guess! hehehe

i'll check the filler cap seal later on, would be a result if it was something like that. i take it there isn't anything else it could be around that area then? cam gasket or oil filler seal about the only things located around there to produce excess oil? i did check around that area pretty thoroughly but you never know, i did have the filler off to do the job.

[dbug]

Lol, the smoke out the oil filler is blow by gases and is as expected!

Its not leaking from the filler neck seal?

Check rubber seal in oil filler cap - it goes rock hard so doesn't seal.  Clean up filler "spout", then look for oil on flange where spout changes direction.

[ians]

hissing sounds more like water (condensation/rain?) or coolant than oil to me.