Landseer

Am finishing one up tonight, 85.

Same issue. I duct tape a piece of 3/4 inch radiator hose to the end of a shop vac to remove oil.

Here's a look inside, dealing with one broken bolt, referenced above. https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...bolt-done.html


Look also at Dwayne's thread on intake refresh. Its a later car, but enough of the parts are the same, and his technique is great.
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...re-w-pics.html

Search Mike Frye's name for 85 intake refresh write-up, also.

Roger has the parts you need. It can be done economy, fixing what is bad, or full-blown with powder coating of the intakes and replacement of all rubber and the Idle Stablization Valve and all hoses., which more costly but satisfying.

No knock sensors on these cars. But here are some weak parts to consider replacing: Extension wire that links TPS with the harness (ends disintegrate). Oil breather hose that starts at the front of the passenger cam cover and goes to the base of the oil fill (not visible). (Its made from a material that simply collapses and dissolves with time, breaks at the filler tube and mists oil all over the top of the motor). Injector rubber grommets / cheap and worth replacing. Fuel lines --- do replace thiese, roger has a kit. Spark plug wire clips. Spark plug grommets (8). About 18 O-rings around certain cam cover bolts.

RevAgent

Once again, guys, thank you all for the informative answers. One day I hope to be able to provide such assistance to another.

I will order the parts and keep you all posted. Thanks again.

-Mark

Hilton

There are also o-rings on the plastic plugs and oil breather elbows too which should be replaced while in there.

Depending on mileage, may also want to replace the cam chain tensioner unit and possibly the chains.

I agree with Gtaebr - clean up the plug holes, check the oil leak is just seeping, and drive it until winter. Then rip into it and do intake, valve covers etc. all

davek9

What the others have said is most likely the issue, and the oil in the manifold is also normal, just drain it off. I usualy find 1/2 a shot glass in there when I remove mine.

Mako 928

The pads for the cam chain tensioner for '85 '86 MY are NLA. You will either have to use what is on there now or change entire tensioner W/ pads to MY '87 up.

Landseer

I drove mine for a few weeks with one leaking seal.

After seeing what a broken one looked like, just a rubber ring with a break in it, I think it might be reasonable to reach slightly inside the hole, clean up the area with a rag with some acetone on it, then use black silicone to patch the area where the round rubber seal goes. Its under no pressure per se. If you clean it well and let the silicone cure overnight it might reduce the flow. Then maybe check it every couple days and vac it out.

That way, like me, you get more time driving and diagnosing the car for when you do your more major disassembly.

WallyP

Another vote for doing a temporary fix now, enjoying the car during the beautiful fall weather, and doing the top-end repairs over the winter.

SteveG

What they are not telling you is that the fuel rail and intake have to come off to get the valve cover off. [edit: you will see down the thread this is incorrect, sorry - it doesn't have to come off] So, since I did this on my '85, you should consider the tensioner pad replacement and maybe power coat or paint the covers and intake or they may look great as they are. The pads should be good for way over 100,000, but you probably won't want to remove this stuff again. Also consider replacing all hoses and vacuum in the valley and the ISV.

Oh, the joy of ownership. "It was a steal" if you like doing this stuff!! I hope you do. It will be a joy to behold, when you are done. You will never be done.

RevAgent

I'm thinking I might do a temporary fix for now, depending on how bad it is actually leaking. It's going to have t wait until this weekend due to me being out of town for business, but I'm going to vacuum out the oil, finish replacing the ignition system, make sure the misfire is gone, drive it for a day and then check to see how much oil leaked back into the plug recess.

Depending on how bad the leak is, I'll just drive it for the Fall, and if the misfire starts up again, I'll tear into it ASAP and try and remedy the leaks once and for all, however I'm not looking forward to potentially broken bolts...

WICruiser

Keep us informed about the ignition - misfire status and the follwoing leak analysis.

My '85 has not leaked into the plug cavities yet but I didn't pull the cam covers when I did my intake refresh because of the broken bolt concern. That being said it is only a matter of time before I need to face the music and replace the seals, powder coat the covers, etc.

Once you check out the ignition - misfire problem fuel lines should be a priority. There have been way to many fuel line related fires and now that Roger has a fuel line replacement kit there is no reason not to spend a day and make sure your sweet deal doesn't burn you.

Landseer

Hey, on those fuel lines, here's what that looks like.

Old, old and new, and the kit from which new is derived.

Gtaebr

Crikey tell me that's not blood on the edge in that first pic!

Lizard928

This is I am afraid false.

On the 85/86 cars you must take the end boxes off, but no more really needs to come off. The runners, and fuel rails can remain on without issue.

I am going to disagree with a few. I would remove the cover and put fresh seals in there and then put it back on. Then this winter pull them back off replace the tensioner, and have the covers powdercoated.

The reason I am not to keen on doing the temp fix with silicone is that I have seen engines where some have used a little silicone and it doesnt adhear and then breaks off falls down and manages to get sucked up by the pump and pushed through the oiling system blocking passages. This is not something you want to have to repair.

I say do it right and then go back in and pretty it up this winter.

JHowell37

Where did you come up with this idea? I can have the valve covers off my '85 in about 25 minutes.

I'm also not sure how people break bolts on the damn things. I've had my valve covers off a few times without breaking a single bolt. And when I put them back in, I tighten them until I feel them bottom out.

And FWIW, this is on one of the ****tiest '85s you could throw your money away on.

Landseer

Lizzard and JHowell make good points. Not hard to do right, assuming you don't face a bolt break. How or why they break, who knows. All mine were lightly torqued. One was corroded inside its stud. Another, below, was also an oddball.

The lower-most bolt on the Passenger side cover against the firewall was hard to turn... the whole base was winding out... its a wonder it came out intact. But, then, it was attached on he underside of the cam cover..... That gave insufficient clearance to remove the cover cleanly.

I don't even know if I could have weasled a wrench into the area to separate the stud and cover bolt.... unlikely. Ended up nicking the back lower cam lobe and the rear edge gasket mating surface with the end of the stud. Wrestled the cam cover sum-biotch out. Just all according to what you run into.

Am no substitute for Dwayne, but I just happened to have snapped a few pictures of cam covers, also, random of TBody TPS extension wire so you can see whats to come for your project. Have others if needed. Fuel rail doesn't need to come off to pull cam covers, actually.