Freesh(ish) oil evidence undr the cam cover bolts

[Ben.Nakagawa]

When you touch the chrome cam cover bolt, I felt bit wet and find there is fresh(ish) oil on my finger tip.

I bought CAS O ring and cam cover gasket to replace. Do I need something else to look at?

I have a good oil pressure and no power loss. Just a very slow leak...

[Habanero666]

When you touch the chrome cam cover bolt, I felt bit wet and find there is fresh(ish) oil on my finger tip.

I bought CAS O ring and cam cover gasket to replace. Do I need something else to look at?

I have a good oil pressure and no power loss. Just a very slow leak...

Konnichiwa Ben san,

When renewing the valve cover gasket you will need to use some type of oil resistant silicon sealant.
I recommend Three Bond 1215 grey gasket sealant. I use this on all engine and gearbox parts.

Also when you have the cover off, please look closely at the cambelt area to see if it has oil on or around it.
If it has, check the camshaft seals that are on the front of the engine behind the two top pulleys. If this is wet with oil the front engine seals will need renewal also.

Have a look at the picture attached for the points to apply the sealant.

Gannbare

[Ben.Nakagawa]

Thank you for advice. I will look fro those area.
I hope I do not need the front engine seal.

Ben

[sprsta]

watch out for the partmaster/repco cam seals they will usually leak wich is annoying as genuine ones are about $40 each

[Ben.Nakagawa]

Cheers.
Is there any other possible cause that make this sort of slow (very slow) leak?

A procedure seems to be easy enough if I mark the CAS position correctly and not messing the timing. (I do not have all the tools, but have a shop manual like many of us do. )
I have WOF appointed at garage on Thursday, so I will ask mechanic what they think. I could ask them to finish up but that another $$.


PS. The CAS O Ring from Mazda cost me 11.85+GST and gasket? It's 63.63+GST. Boy it's expensive, but I have read after maket one tend to be thinner and cause premature failure. so I opted to genuine part this time.

I was thinking about 1/2 to 2/3 of price...

Thanks for comment and help guys.

[Euen]

Ben, is there oil on all the cam cover bolts. This sounds a little strange as, from past experience, leaking cam seals will just dribble oil down the front of the engine, it doesn't usually go back over the top of the cover. The cam cover prevents any oil leaking from the seals from spraying around the engine bay. I would expect the CAS seal to leak down the back of the engine if it as leaking.

One other possibility is that one or more of your cam cover bolts is slightly loose allowing the oil to seep up past the washer. These only have a very light torque to tighten, so that could be a possibility

Normally the cam cover bolt heads should remain pretty clear of oil unless some has been spilled when pouring oil into the engine.

The Tech Day at City Garage this Sunday would be a good place to ask a question like this. (edit - oops, sorry Ben, just realised that you are in Nelson)

[Habanero666]

All the gaskets on my high power output engines are ACL from PARTMASTER, never leak, never will. I payed $2 for the CAS O-ring and $17 for the valve cover gasket. Mazda SHAME ON YOU.

Don't be fooled by propaganda!

I was laughing terribly at a Jackson racing advert today, the extent of the brainwashing was unbelievable. There is my 2 cents for the year

[Euen]

I agree with Habanero. I use Permaseal (NZ Gaskets) gaskets from BNT. Haven't had any problems with them at all.

[Ben.Nakagawa]

I take this as ... well... I paid for lesson. Next time will be different. I hope that is not that soon. BTW.

It's from all the bolts so may be just a little loose. I will check the torque later tomorrow. I've read that it should be 43 - 78 inch-lbs. Well I do not have torque wench in this spec, but I can ask the garage to check/make sue.
The front is clean from outside but that does not saying no leak from there. the back is worth. So, my first guess was CAS O ring. Then I felt oil on side like exhaust heat shed getting dirty. so I checked around and felt oil on side around gasket and the bolts. there is no bad splay inside the engine bay other than this slow wet (dribble?) thing. I have good oil pressure, if I can trust oil gauge of my 89.
May be little over fill of engine oil on last service?

I checked the backlog, the engine flush was done on May last year and I guess this started from there. Maybe just nothing but loose bolt or this flashing make compromise some gasket rubber. I will just change both rig and gasket for piece of mind and check the cam seal and belt.

I'm still leaning, you see.

Well, I'm hoping this will stop leak and no more mess on my garage floor.

[Edit] All the bolt head is very clean, just the bottom of the bolts has small amount of oil. I guess oil is just come down from side and dripped from there?

[Habanero666]

I think everyone at this forum has had an "oversight" when purchasing parts or having work carried out on there car! That is how you learn.

When oil is at a high temperature and under pressure, it becomes a gaseous suspension to some extent. This makes for a very fine haze (mist) of lubricant that is excellent for cooling and lubrication inside the crankcase, but also will easily find a low pressure area ie, out side of the engine!

When the valve cover is off, check the PCV (positive cranckcase ventilation) valve ( the little plastic valve that is slipped into a seal on the rocker cover side), the hoses from the rocker to the manifold and to the air intake pipe.

These components can be an accessory to the crime, but most likely it is the gaskets.

If you know how something works first, then you can understand how to repair or carry out service work in the best possible way.

Jim

[Ben.Nakagawa]

Just to say thanks for all your attention and reply. It's all done and good as new . no more leak, I found some coolant leaked because of the old clamp was too weak. It was cleaned and clamp replaced.

PCV was OK, but I checked th price with Mazda.

valve is $30+GST and rubber bush is $8+GST.