jseklund

Thanks to all of the helpful information on this board, I have been able to replace the valve cover gaskets, cam adjuster gaskets, and spider hose on my mom's car over the past few days. I got it all back together tonight, and with my fingers crossed I started it up. The car ran nice and smooth - way better than it has in a while. Most noticably, the growling noise that the car used to make was no longer there and it was purring again!! My mom took it for a ride and was very happy. When she pulled back into the driveway, however, smoke started coming from the engine bay!! Shocked, I opened the hood and there was a ton of smoke pouring out or the driver's side of the bay.

I took the resevoir off, and looked around. The valve covers didn't seem to have any oil leaking past the seals and it looked great. For a second, I figured it was oil that had spilled out of the valves down onto the exhaust while I had it open- but then I noticed that towards the back of the engine, down low, the pipes had new oil on them - golden colored. I had just topped off the oil before we took it out. I looked more closely and realized that the rear cam seal plug had popped out.

I had some issues when I was doing this side and had to remove the caps to get a little more slack in the cams, but did not remove the cams. Apparently, when I removed the caps, I must have opened the hole that the cap is in and it fell out about half way.

My question is - I am pretty certain that I can just reach in and pull out the old cap at this point. I have a new cap - can I just tap it into the hole or do I need to open the valve covers and undo the first cap to get the new plug in? If this will work, it will be minor. Having to reopen the VC again will be a PITA.

Thanks for your input!

quickaudi:STFA

you can tap it into the hole - just make sure to do it straight.

jseklund

Awesome!! Thank you!

quickaudi:STFA

just know that those things can be a bugger to get out, but if yours is already leaking, it shouldn't be that bad

jseklund

Thanks quickaudi- it looks like it's pretty much fallen out from when I opened everything. I think this will be quick...but you are probably right. Nothing is ever as quick as I think it will be when it comes to car repair!!

quickaudi:STFA

...especially not on this car.

r1de23

hey what is the trick to removing the cam seals with the sprockets on the same side? the manual uses a special puller. anyone have any alternate methods?

also, as far as the timing on the cam shafts. i do not see any notches to line up for the cam sprockets or on the timing belt cover. whats the deal with that?

Tik-Tok

Anyone have an answer here? I'm about to do it myself (and renting from blauparts isn't an option, as they don't rent to Canadians)

quickaudi:STFA

definitely have to have the puller

Tik-Tok

Actually, I managed to do it without the puller. I used a 90* pick to (carefully)pry out the old one, inspected the mating surface to make sure I didn't scratch it, and tapped in the new one.

So far so good (100km on it so far), but I'd definitely recommend the tool, it was tedious making sure I wouldn't scratch anything.