Oil leak from cam tower by Cyl #1
 

I was stopped at a light yesterday and saw some smoke coming from under the hood. I pulled over to a parking lot and saw oil gushing by cylinder 1 coming from the cam tower gasket . Has anyone fixed this momentarely with RTV or tow it home.
TIA

that's kind of odd. Have you removed the cam tower or replaced the seal any time recently? Its really not that hard of a job nor does it take much time. How much oil is coming out?

I did it about 2 years ago. I'm amazed how come it started leaking at that spot. Are these paper gaskets so weak?

I fixed a cam tower leak on my old NA with Permatex. Just have to make sure that the surface you're putting it on is super-clean, and give it enough time to cure... IIRC, when I fixed mine, I cleaned it thoroughly with brake clean, and then slathered the leaking area with Permatex. Let that sit for about a day and then coated it again with Permatex and let it sit for another day. In retrospect, the gasket is pretty inexpensive and can be changed in about an hour or so, so I'm not sure if Permatex is really the most reasonable answer... but it never leaked.

Yes. They are very weak. Over-torquing will split them easily.

Uhmm so permatex was a quick fix. Good to know. Thanks

No problem. Use the grey stuff if you can, it definitely holds up better than other variants.

That sucks. I guess it's time to look at removing the T-Belt again. :banghead:

Really, that easy? I thought it involved timing belt removal, which would increase the time to fix, yes?

It will take more than an hour. Tomorrow I'll start with aerating my lawn, replace the axle on my maxima, and then move to the 951. I think I'm going to do the valve seals also since I have the parts for it.

By the way I left the car parked at a American legion property with the leak. Next day I had two guys stop in the period of 90 minutes asking me all sort of questions about the car meanwhile I was waiting for the flatbed. At work I get a lot of compliments about the car(lots of car nuts). The tow truck guy offered me $8500 as is. I kinda wanted to sell it but I really enjoy this car, and I said maybe down the line. Man my wife she's not happy. I Promised her I'll get her SUV after Christmas.

Well Hey, if it makes ya feel any better I just discovered the exact same problem with my 88.

I am across the country here in San Diego California but will be working away on the same thing starting Friday or Saturday . Fun.

Mine just started leaking too. I'm 3 years into this gasket.... Same spot. Right above the 1st exhaust port. I wonder why they all seem to leak there?

If you're doing the timing belt, you're only a few bolts away from the cam tower coming off.

Timing belt is about 3 years old. I haven't had the chance to do the job yet. I just ordered the Flywheel lock from arnworx. I hope I get to do it this weekend. Got a ton of crap that the wife claims to be priority.

They leak around the oil passage. I always put a thin layer of RTV on the gasket around the passage hole as it is a common weak point.