Broken Block :-(

[James Cornell 10]

That would be amazing as I have had the car up on ramps for 5 weeks now

[James Cornell 10]

And I have had.tje.cam belt on and.off.twise already (see post) :-)

[James Cornell 10]

Good shout daviewonder you are absolutely right about the cam belt I thought it seemed too easy to be true

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

If you really wanted to take the cam pulley off, after cable tieing the belt to the it you could pop a bungee cord on it and bungee it to the bonnet to keep it taught but you'll still have to take that bearing cap off to get the seal out again without ruining it.

[James Cornell 10]

Thanks everyone I will push the seal to the end until it meets the metal and then run her up, hopefully I can drive my new car then...yey

[James Cornell 10]

I am really getting a bit depressed with this now, I re-seated the cam oil seal as below and put all of the engine back together...it starts...it idles...it pisses out oil...

 

I has now covered my cambelt, tensioner and water pump in oil

 

I just don't know what it could be, the oil seems to be coming from the top of the engine as the tensioner was covered in oil but the crank gear was practically dry.

 

I have taken the cam belt and covers off last night but had to call it a day, the only thing I can think to do is run the car up without the cam covers can try and see where it is coming from...I will be honest I am just pretty exhaused with the whole thing (I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a new born daughter and I have a full time job so this is just a bit much at the moment

 

As a side note is this the correct position for the cam oil seal? it is pressed up against the cam cover as much as it will go (please see picture)

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2013 by James Cornell

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

No. The belt side of the seal should be flush with the end of the cylinder head casting. From your picture it needs to move towards the head approx 8mm, and sit in the machined recess.

[James Cornell 10]

That is what I thought, and I believe that is how I had it originally.

 

Do you think this seal being in the incorrect position would cause a slow drip to come out of the engine?

(it is a pain because you can't see it with the cam shield in place)

 

Just to clarify it needs to be here

 

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

yes it will certainly piss through being stuck that far out. The seal does need to go into that recess but not all the way in you should have a slight gap behind it when its in the right place

[James Cornell 10]

Ok I have bought a new Genuine Peugeot seal today (the replacement was aftermarket from the head gasket kit) and I will refit it, leave all of the cam covers off and start the engine.

 

Hopefully I will not see any oil, but if I do I will be able to see where it originates from.

 

If this is the case then all I have done is wrecked a seal and a cam belt which all things considered is not really much of an expense...

 

I will report back later

[MikeC 10]

I had to bin the aftermarket seal and opt for a genuine seal to solve the same problem.

[James Cornell 10]

I have refitted a genuine Peugeot seal, put the cambelt back on and cleaned everything so there was no oil anywhere. The engine starts and runns really well but after 30 seconds or so the oil stars coming out.

 

It is definitely coming from the top end of the engine but all you can see is it coming from above the cam tensioner and running down because of where the engine mount is.

 

I just don't bloody know anymore...

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Hi James - sorry to hear of the continuing engine problems!

 

Have you thought of using something like this to pinpoint the leak:

 

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/SOL7320280K

 

Clean your block off, spary this on the problem area and wait till it dries to a chalky white consistency. Run the engine up to temp and any oil leaks will leave a trace in the coating, showing exactly where it originated. A friend changed the cam seals on his XE 4 times before he used this and found the leak was coming from the rocker cover:

 

[James Cornell 10]

That is a really good idea I will get the cam cover off tonight and if I still can't see it I will clean it up and put some of the leak detector on...

[welshpug 1,622]

probably is the cam cover, especially if it has been overtightened at any point.

[James Cornell 10]

That seal was replaced when I rebuilt the head, is it really common for them to lose this amount of oil through the cam cover seal?

 

I mean the one on my 1300 xflow engine is made of pressed cork and that does not leak

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

They are quite prone to making a mess as the rubber gasket gets hard and warps, i use a small bead of sealant round the entire cam cover on both underneath and above the rubber gasket too to be sure it doesn't let anything through. Is this what people were referring to with putting sealant on the end caps to stop oil coming out?

[DamirGTI 325]

Just the cover gasket should do , and it must not be over tightened in order to seal up properly .

Anyway , i also have practice sealing the end caps corner areas with an light smear of blue hylomar sealant .

 

Also remember having an oil leak problems once after fitting new bought cam cover gasket , only to be found that the "new one" was actually old - bad one ! was packed in a sealed PVC bag but obviously was some old manufacture batch so the rubber compound degraded/hardened up and was unable to seal up properly .. another , this time good new cover gasket solved the issue .

 

D

[James Cornell 10]

So I took everything apart again today and removed all of the cam covers and cleaned the engine (again) and I can confirm (with 99% certanty) that the oil is weeping from the head gasket, so as they say in the old days...off with his head!

[James Cornell 10]

The head is off now and I dropped it off at Clayfield and Hall to get skimmed, although I have noticed something weird (see post) http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=154333

[James Cornell 10]

We'll I just f###ing give up, after a skim and another rebuild it is weeping water from pot 3 again. It must be the block but there is no way to be sure so I am quite tempted to just keep topping it up with water for a while...so depressed with it all

 

[acox99 71 1 Cars]

Have you tried putting k seal in the system. It does work. Might be a worth a try if your prepared to put up with it.

[welshpug 1,622]

Sod k-seal, awful stuff.

 

Where is it actually leakong from??

[James Cornell 10]

Can you see the line of coolant in the photo? It is coming from the top of the block and running down (almost like there is a hairline crack in the face of the block) but the cylinder head is dry

[DamirGTI 325]

Photo really doesn't reveal much ?!

Which area is it ? around the head bolt threads ?

 

If all the areas around bolt threads in the block are fine/dry/without cracks , try loosening all the head bolts for a 1/4 of a turn (preferably with an T bar) and re-tighten back 1/4 ... drive for a while and see what happens .. Maybe it'll settle down after a few miles if it's gasket sealing issue rather than crack .

 

D