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[marcus]

hi
I have a really annoying oil leak from the back end of the engine - not sure whether it is a rear main bearing oil seal or just the residual mess still descending from a big leak on the cam box seal which I have now fixed. Maybe the leak is coming from high up at the back of the engine and it is very hard to access and see what is going on.
What are the likely possibilities here for the cause of a leak?

Also there is a small tube (approx 5" long ) with a round plastic endpiece that looks as if it should push in somewhere but where and what is its function - it seems to come from the region of the back of the distributor but nowhere to fit it? Is it for distributor diagnostics? 
Totally confused

[Entwood]

First the tube .. if yours is an auto it is probably the gearbox breather pipe, just clips up by the DIS pack and is open to atmosphere - providing of course that the 4 normal breather pipes are in position !! The re is no pipe to the DIS it is TOTALLY electronic !! 

Second .. if you had a major oil leak from the cam covers it might take quite a while for the oil to run off from the back of the engine, it might be worth cleaning up as far as you can reach with Gunk or similar, then seeing if the oil is running down over the "clean" bit, or coming out from the torque converter/engine rear plate join .

HTH

[Abiton]

When fixing the camcover gasket leak, did you use genuine gasket, new o-rings, plus the black sealant in the places recommended on here?

Did you also clean out the breathers (block to camcover, camcover to intake hose, and camcover to manifold just under throttle body)?

There's a guide for this here:
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1194007453.
Doesn't cover the block to camcover breather but that one is fairly obvious.

If you did all this, then it probably is just residual oil from when it was leaking.  If you didn't, it may be that excess pressure in the camcover has blown your new seal (really hope not for your sake).

Or it may be from somewhere else as you suggest.

[mick-1975]

mine was leaking from the back , and i found out that the breather tube from the block to the back of the rocker cover was blocked ,so oil was being forced out ,
  took off and cleaned with a wire and all was good ,might be worth changing or cleaning 

[marcus]

hi chaps thanks for quick responses:-
the short tube with the round plastic end cover is not the gearbox breather pipe which I have located, so the mystery remains
not sure about references to "genuine" rocker cover gasket and black goo sealant - the gasket I used looked just like the old one but no instructions to use sealant as well - where would the sealant go all over or just over the camshaft bearing caps at the front and the recesses at the back? What is the black sealant recommended?
Thanks for your patience!

[Andy B]

hi chaps thanks for quick responses:-
the short tube with the round plastic end cover is not the gearbox breather pipe which I have located, so the mystery remains
not sure about references to "genuine" rocker cover gasket and black goo sealant - the gasket I used looked just like the old one but no instructions to use sealant as well - where would the sealant go all over or just over the camshaft bearing caps at the front and the recesses at the back? What is the black sealant recommended?
Thanks for your patience!

have a look here ...... http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152565472   

[Abiton]

Try this guide too, by Tunnie, with good piccies:
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1225024176

It has the part numbers for everything, but the gasket one will be different on yours, I think, as his guide is for the 2.2. (Certainly don't think the gasket I got for my 2.0 had that number). Most aspects of the process are the same.

With regard to the tube you've found, it isn't coming from the EGR valve (rusty looking thing, nearside rear of the cylinder head) is it?  I don't remember it being 5" long, but there is a small diameter vac hose coming off that which doesn't go anywhere, and terminates in a round black plastic fitting. LHS of this pic:


If that is the one, I suppose it works as follows.  The actual valve of the EGR is moved by a vacuum diapragm (the big round bit of the housing).  The vac source is from the throttle body, and this is modulated by a solenoid valve (above the vac diaphragm).  When this solenoid valve closes, isolating the vac source, some means of letting air back into the low pressure side of the diaphragm must exist or it wouldn't be able to move down again rapidly to close the actual exhaust gas valve. Or something. 

This black plastic bit will be a basic filter, to prevent particulates getting into the vac system.  And I've just realised that this must be what rustym95 was on about the other day in another thread, sorry mate!

[marcus]

thanks Abiton that is the item - a relief not to have to find somewhere to fit it! Oil leak seems to be slowing down after one hr ticking over, hopefully just residue from cambox gasket which I think now ok - fingers crossed.

[Abiton]

Glad to hear it Marcus. 

Well worth checking that all the breathers are clear, to give your camcover gasket the best chance of a long and trouble-free life, if you haven't already.

One final tip.  Vx produced a 'flame trap' add-on, that sits in the flexi pipe at the top of the crankcase breather, basically a rectangular(ish) box with some metal gauze inside.  This is to try to reduce the amount of oil mist entering the camcover (and flames I suppose, from going the other way?), and then the other breather pipes.  If your engine hasn't got this, I'd reckon it's worth the £15 or £20 they cost. 

[rustym95]

Mine has same problem but it gose away then come back, dont know why it dose it.