BeerBurner

Hi all,

It seems that my cam tower gasket is leaking. I say this because there is oil coming down on the tops of the first two cyliners' exhaust manifold. Which would be a little more understandable had the gasket not been replaced early last September...

Anyway, I'm in good standing with the mechanics, and I imagine they'll take care of me, but I was just wondering if retorqing the bolts would do me any good? I figure that, if nothing else, it can't hurt and I suppose it might just solve the problem.

I won't do anything until after I talk to them, of course. I'm just hoping that maybe there's a fix that wouldn't require the hassle of dropping the car off and picking it up...

Thanks,
BB.

Raceit

I put some high temp RTV sealant on the part of the gasket above the exhust. Mine was leaking a bit too and puffing out a bit of smoke every so often as the oil dripped on the exhaust. Not real fun to see when you're at a stop light.

It's a temporary fix. I did mine about a month ago and haven't any problems since then.

Dave951M

You could have it retorqued, but it might not work. Try it, worst case is it still leaks.

Raceit

I totally left that part out in the above post. I tried to retroque the bolts, but that didn't have any improvement.

Paul C 944

I re touqued mine a year ago and no leaks ,,,yet.
I had oil drip on the exhaust, ,,,,,, ,,, not fun.Ruined plans to meet up with some folks on rennlist that day.

Paul C 944

Its made of cork,sometimes a little more tighning is all it needs,it a major PIA to get to thoose bolts!!!!!!!

OriginalSterm

what is the torque spec on those? I have a small issue with a tiny leak front and rear. Other than that, I lose almost no oil through the rest of the engine, including turbo.

Legoland951

The rear cam seal is made of cork. The front is a metal seal with rubber surround and a rubber o ring. You are not supposed to torque the 6mm allens too much. This is the reason they get stripped. If you really want to do it right and fix all the little leaks, take the cam tower off. I don't even remove the timing belt doing that job. Just get the engine to TDC and pop the cam tower off with the timing belt in place. When you get it out, you can change the front cam seal (takes a special cheesehead socket and extremely tight-you will need a good impact gun and it may still strip), the rubber o ring sealing the cam tower housing to the aluminum distributor cap mount, the rear cam seal (cork), and the camtower to head gasket. If you do this, you won't get a leak from there for years to come.