jmporsche944

I have oil leaking from the rear of my cam tower (the usual cork gasket)... My problem is that, When I try to tighten the three bolts down, they dont get tight, it seems like whatever its supposed to thread into is stripped. Is the actual Cam tower what is threaded? If it is indeed stripped, Do I have to take it off and have it drilled and tapped? Can I use a larger self tapping screw? I just want to know my options. Anyone else had this happen? Thanks.

Tom M'Guinn

If they are stripped, I'd install helicoils rather than oversized bolts. I just put a helicoil in my cam tower yesterday (front end where rear timing cover attaches). They work great for low torque applications, and keep everything stock.

Macfreak007

yeah, agreed, probably what happened on this to begin with is someone over torqued it like crazy, there is a trick to doing a rear cam tower gasket correctly. You locktight the bolts and you use weather strip adhesive to attach the gasket to the cover, then you just very loosely tighten them down, just enough so that the gasket crushes a little bit, trust me it works!, DON'T over tighten, thats why these get so messed up and always leak!

Danno

Yeah, that damn cork gasket is the biggest POS I've ever seen. I've fought it for 3 month before finally resigning to my fate and removed the cam-tower to install it properly. It's a low-torque setting for the cap, so do not overtighten it, you'll squeeze out the gasket and cause major leaks. Here's what I ended up doing on my last 5 engines:

1. remove ALL traces of old gaskets from both surfaces, machine them flat if necessary
2. remove ALL traces of oil form both surfaces wipe with acetone, then wipe it again...
3. use a thin layer of sticky glue-type sealant on both gasket surfaces, Yamabond-4, Fastak Weatherstripping adhesive (#08004 - #08035), etc. hang to dry, don't let either surface touch anything
4. lay thin layer on cam-tower and cap as well, wait until surfaces are tacky, about 1-2 minutes for Fastak, lay down another layer before installing as per instructions
5. install gasket, cap and bolts finger tight
6. tighten to 25% of torque-value so that all mating surfaces are sealed, extra sealant is squeezed out in little droplets, but DO NOT compress the gasket
7. let sit 3-4 hours for sealant to dry and harden fully...
8. torque down to final torque-setting, notice that gasket is compressed, but not squeezed out... if so, start all over again..

jmporsche944

Sounds good, can I do the helicoils without taking the cam tower back out? Or should I take this out again just to replace this stupid gasket?

Danno

I think you'll want to take it out...

Mike C.

I would suggest you wait until you need a timing belt change to remove the cam tower. In the meantime, I think if you remove the cover and clean the surfaces real well (i.e. with laquer thinner), put the new gasket on with a liberal amount of red RTV on both sides, and on the bolts (which were also degreased in laquer thinner), putting them in finger tight, letting the RTV cure and you should have no leaks.

jmporsche944

I just changed the timing belt so thats the main reason I dont feel like pulling it out again. Do you think it will make a big difference that the bolts dont thread in super tight? With enough sealent will it hold the oil?

Mike C.

It isn't under high pressure there. If you get the surfaces oil free, the RTV will stick and seal it up good.

Macfreak007

Danno, good method, exactly what i was taught by my master mechanic friend/boss! Your just better at typing it up in a nice list