Since I have the three day weekend of sunshine and cool weather, I figured I'd clean out more under my hood from all the previous leaks I fixed to see if I still had any oil leaks...of course I do!
Sooooo...on my 1.8 O code engine, it appears to be coming from below the valve cover gasket on the driver's side and dripping down the side of the motor. From what I can tell, the gaskets from top to bottom on my engine would be valve cover, camshaft carrier, head.
Is this correct? Camshaft carrier gasket is what I need? Any special tools involved, I really only have basic sockets/wrenches/screwdrivers/sledgehammers. This doesn't look to be a difficult job, but I'm all for not taking things apart that I don't need to.
The manual says to remove air cleaner, breather hoses, bolts, cover--interesting it doesn't say anything about removing the valve cover first
hate to break it to you man but there is no cam-carrier gasket. you have to use an RTV and in order to get it off you have to remove the head bolts which are one time use bolts. If your an experienced mechanic its not to bad but yeah not somethin you wanna mess with if you dont have to.
Well now that's interesting. After seeing your post, I checked the manual and yeah, it shows a valve cover gasket, it shows a head gasket, but no camshaft carrier gasket.
So what keeps it from leaking in the first place, and since it is leaking now, what would I need to do to repair?
Is this something that comes off without removing the valve cover (since the manual doesn't mention it, and the valve cover would be forced to come off with it)?
uh...what's an RTV?
Seems like a job I shouldn't be attempting myself, but I am really curious as to what's involved (like timing stuff and other things).
RTV better know as silicone in a tube or can to make a sticky fuel,oil, or other fluid resistance seal between metal to metal contact and keep it from leaking.That is the best I can think of being tired and after taking a quick look on my 85 with a 2.0 drvr side the only thing I see is the valve cover gasket and the head gasket seal ?Any way I would clean the area with engine cleaner or brake clean to determine EXACTLY where the oil if coming from,I would lean more towards the valve cover leaking in most cases.IF the valve cover is the issue I would use permatexs THE RIGHT STUFF gasket maker comes in a can for about 13-14 bux but!!!! this will seal it foreverand sets up fast and will do the job.I hope my rambling helps you understand was rtv aka silicone is and unless the leak is from the head gasket I would use some oil additive that may or may not seal that area if the leak is too bad.U simply would add it when u do a oil change and it will replace say a quart of oil or less when you do this.Hope this helps regardless.
A friend of mine mentioned about an ounce of brake fluid would seal up the leak as well, but I'm not so sure I'd wanna try that one.
Yeah, I've already done massive amounts of cleaning under the hood, and it really seems to be coming from the camshaft carrier gasket, but I will do some more just to be sure.
So you think the Bars Leaks type stuff may really work?
If I were to rip it apart, would I have to worry about things like timing? It's just strange to me that the shop manual makes it look like no big deal to rip apart, and doesn't mention removing the valve cover at all (although it does look like I could get the camshaft carrier off without removing the valve cover).
Wayne-
I have had mine apart and it is not really that hard, but does take time to do properly. I used a product from GM called "3-Bond" on mine and it has stayed pretty dry. I would wait until you really have to do a head gasket and then fix this at the same time. When apart you will prolly want to have the head checked out at a machine shop.
You can also get the felpro permadry valve cover gasket off a code M 2.0 car (it will fit) and a oil pan gasket off a 2.0 car as well (will need to get oil pan and baffle from a yard). This will give you a much dryer engine overall. The cork gaskets the 1.8s came with is old technology. Make sure you use a nice thick bead and have the surfaces scruffed so it will have something to bite in to.
I have since moved on to other things that are in need of attentionon mine.
