Cam Cover Gasket

[Lemon]

Hi Everyone

Went to my local Porsche specialist today to have a look at the very very slight leak I have on the top of the engine behind the distributor.

Says it looks like the Cam cover gasket.

Any body else had this one done. He said to change the seal behind the distributor at the same time.

This guy quoted £200 to do the job. Has anyone else had this done and at what price.

Want to get this done before I look at fettling the car more (Promax etc)

Cheers everyone

Lee

 

[Guest]

Zentrum in nottingham charged me an hours labour plus the gasket to check the belts and chains and put a new gasket on when replacing the cam cover. Its a pretty easy job and would have done it myself if I wasn't having the belts checked.

John

 

[Diver944]

The S2 cam cover (like Woots) comes off really easily as it's a flattish plate held on by a dozen bolts

The 8v cars (Turbo and Lux) is a lot more complicated as the cover is raised and the cam shaft goes through it. I think you need to take the distributor off as well. www.clarks-garage.com will have a procedure in the camshaft section

 

[Guest]

Fair enough not sure why I thought they would be even slightly similar, I'm blaming friday afternoon. Cheers,

John

 

[Lemon]

Thanks for everyones help.

I might give Zentrum a ring.

Cheers

 

[JamesO]

Not a quick job (assuming its a lux) and you might as well change the cam belt while your at it.
Be ready for the lifters falling out and oil going everywhere when you take the cam tower off.
If its not an 8 valve ignore everything I just said.

 

[colin smith]

Sorry should have said it's a S2, does that make it easier or harder?????

Also it had it's belts done within the last 10000 miles so I won't do thoses again.

 

[xenon]

Cam Cover gasket on S2 is easy, assuming you can remove the cover hex bolts. A bit of WD40 on the day before you do the job will help. If they come out OK then it's an easy job.

 

[zcacogp]

Easy job - I did exactly the same job on mine last week (as part of a service) and it took no more than 40 minutes.

There are more bolts holding it on than you think necessary. And it's a fiddle getting it out from underneath the fuel lines. But far from hard. And you can visually inspect the cam sprockets and chain and tensioner while you are in there (although I think that spotting stretched chains and worn case-hardening is probably a more specialist job, but you can certainly spot cracked slippers and missing teeth).

New gaskets are pretty cheap from ECP.


Oli.

 

[xenon]

As well as the gasket you should also change the seals on the bolts. Cheap also.

 

[zcacogp]

Seals on the bolts?

Didn't notice them. Certainly didn't change them ....

<Runs outside to make sure car is not sitting in an oil slick>


Oli.

 

[elvis]

Wouldn't worry too much about the seals on the bolts, the bits I would change while you're at it are the big 'o' rings around the spark plug holes (928 104 443 08). If these don't seal then the spark plug recesses fill up with oil and you get misfires.

Edit: 30 minute job, make sure you clean the allen key heads out as you don't want to round them and they can be a bit snug if it's not been done for a while.

 

[TTM]

Make sure you also replace the gaskets for the two plastic plugs on the cam cover.
I did not replace them last time as I did not have the right tool to take the clips off and now oil sweats through, not enough to be significantly annoying but enough to make the engine look dirtier than it is [8|]

 

[xenon]

ORIGINAL: elvis

Wouldn't worry too much about the seals on the bolts, the bits I would change while you're at it are the big 'o' rings around the spark plug holes (928 104 443 08). If these don't seal then the spark plug recesses fill up with oil and you get misfires.

Edit: 30 minute job, make sure you clean the allen key heads out as you don't want to round them and they can be a bit snug if it's not been done for a while.

Sorry yes - those were the seals I meant. Well it was six months ago []

 

[colin smith]

where is the best place to buy the gaskets from and do all the bits come as a kit?

 

[zcacogp]

Ahhhh .... OK - those are the ones I specifically took the top off to change!

Two were weeping. Spark plug tubes were getting a bit full last time I serviced it (but not this time, interestingly.) It didn't cause a mis-fire, but did make a bit of a mess, and also meant that when the plugs were changed the oil dropped into the cylinder, which then made it a bit smoky and sulky the next time it was started (with the new plugs.)

Colin - they can all be bought from EuroCarParts. Spark plug tube gaskets are about £1.50p each, and the one around the edge of the cover is about £12 (from memory).


Oli.