Rip It

Has anyone tried making a gasket for the back cover? Would a material other then cork be better? "CLARK'S" claims the cork gasket is usually good for only 50k miles.
I just purchased all the gaskets and seals, mine just recently started leaking at the rear gasket or possibly at the right back side of the housing just above the #4 header. I pressure washed the area hoping to determine exactly which one is leaking but still can not determine it. The rear cork gasket has 35k miles on it and is a dailey driver. I plan to replace the rear cork gasket first and see what happens. As is after pressure washing within 200 miles the oil gets on the header and when I stop smoke pours out from the hood.
Any suggestions appreciated. see ya

75ohm

I just use the cork but I believe some folks have experimented a bit. With that much leakage, you may have the cam tower gasket itself ready for replacement...

Rip It

You may be right, I have all the material ready just not looking forward to it.
I am going to replace the rear cap gasket first and see what happens.
By the way....I didn't have this problem until I got my car out of the shop, they replaced the oil cooler seals, PS rack, right control arm. They forgot to refill the coolant and my 15 mile drive home showed very erratic temps but nothing past the 3rd line. I had to rent a pressurizer to get my coolant straightened-out.
I hate taking my car to the shop. With an old car anything is subject to happen at any time but it seems when it goes to a shop something else always happens. Coincidence....I wonder?

Techno Duck

I have had good success using the cork gasket, torqued carefully (evenly) and a liberal amount of an oil safe sealant such as Hylomar HPF. Its interesting how troublesome that gasket is. On my '87 924S, the rear plate actually worked loose completley and was hanging by only one bolt. Explains the massive oil leak i was having back there. On my friends '89 and my '87 i changed the gasket, the bolts were all loose, well on there way to backing out completley.

Wormhole

Try lock tight on the bolts too, I’ve had them back out and I think that is the cause for the leaks in most cases..

Shabba

Hmmm, good thread topic. I'm about to be on my second gasket in 10k miles... my first starting leaking, much like yours ,after my coolant got low and the temperature rose a little more than usual. When the cam housing gasket is mentioned, is everyone talking about what would be called the valve cover gasket on other cars? My leak is also at the rear over the number 4 header, just like last time. I'd love to be able to fix that leak without taking the belt off...

shiners780

Two different gaskets, cam housing gasket and rear cam cover gasket. If your leak is from the rear cam cover gasket, that's easy and doesn't require taking the belt off. The cam housing gasket requires belt removal.

Shabba

Ok, that is easier. My leak, however, is coming from under the cover over the headers... I had the gasket changed (the long one...the cam housing gasket I am assuming, not the round one like in your picture) about 10k miles ago. The leaks then were in the rear over the #4 header and the towards the front of the motor, between the #1 and #2 header. So the long gasket is the cam housing gasket and the circular one is the rear cam cover gasket?

MM951

I put oil resistant high temp copper goop on 3 different rear cam housing gaskets and no leaks out of the 3 cars (and 35K miles on one of em so far)

this stuff is incredible:
http://www.holeshot.com/chemicals/permatex_prod.html

Rip It

Many responses were right on ...rear cam cover bolts were loose. They needed about one full turn to retighten. I pressure washed oily area and within 3 miles had the same leak.
Now I have housing on the work bench, thought I had all the seals , o-rings, etc. and discovered parts I bought are wrong. Looks like I will have to buy the mylar spacer seal from the dealer, it was basically worn away.
I was amazed how good the cam lobes were..absolutley no wear in 157k miles. Thanks for all the responses. Will keep u posted on results, waiting for parts now.

Legoland951

The problem is the cork gasket requires very little torque before its crushed. When the bolts are not very tight due to the nature of cork, they will back out over time. If you use sealant such as the copper high temp silicone, it will "glue" the cork to the cam housing cover and the cam tower so even if the bolts are kinda loose, it won't leak.

If you really want to make it bullet proof, I have used a sheet of composite gasket material you can buy at an auto store and cut out your own gasket. These will last a very very long time (mine never leaked from there again when I used that gasket with sealant).

Rip It

I finished replacing ALL of the cam housing gaskets,mylar spacer, and front cover o-ring and seals. Lots of oil ran down onto my headers when I pulled the cam housing off, soaked the header gaskets pretty good. I immediately drove to a car wash and pressure washed the engine in that area. I got lots of attention at the stop lights...smoke pouring out from under the hood. Everything seems back to normal now. By the way I used a Tack Sealant on the bottom side of the cam housing gasket and the back cover side of the cork gasket and loc-tited those 3 bolts.

75ohm

Isn't that the fun part though? Getting it done and knowing you fixed the issue and having the smoke burn off the header? I love that part!!!

Techno Duck

I had my father standing by with my Halotron fire extinguisher when i started it up after doing the headgasket. I told him "Dad..that fire extinguisher was $150...only use it if the fire is REALLY bad"



There are still stains all over the driveway from when i took the cam tower off and the oil leaked everywhere..what a freaken mess that was.

75ohm

Hell, only use it if you see flames!