Oil Leaks

[dhulboy]

Any one have leaky cam covers ?

Mine started at about 60K miles.

Looks like you have to remove throttle body & plenum & intake maifold to get to them, and the gaskets are expensive. $60 ea for cam cover and I haven't priced the plenum, intake manifold & throttle body yet.

Any past experience or comments appreciated.

[sjashbrook]

Oh yeah, and flooded spark plugs to boot. I took the car in for the timing belt recall recently and had the dealer blow smoke about fixing "crossover leak" due to the amount of bs I've put up with the car and all problems. They didn't fix shit, but made the problems much worse and more costly. They failed to attach the heater hose control module back to the post, so it melted and leaked like a stuck hog until I figured out what the hell they had done. Anyway, I was like you got to be a crack or something when they gave the est. for repairs to get the covers replaced and leaked corrected-labor rate of 98.00 at about 19 hours give or take..............that was every dealership w/in 100 radius. I have no mechanical no how to save my ass, but I learned real fast with a lot, I mean alot of research and getting the service manuals helped. I have now replaced the cam covers(so misleading) and put in my plugs, and wires-thanks to ebay. The wire set were 186.00 per side from dealer 65.00 for both set on ebay and good condition too. as for the cam gasket/valve cover gasket/seal whatever the damn name is, I took a big gasp and used that gasket maker in a can stuff from Autozone. The one that claims to be OEM cert and used in million fleet miles with no problem. the only problem is with the claim "makes 8-10 4cycl valve covers". BS-it took two cans to complete the job, albeit I put that shit on thick, even forgot the o-rings, but went back and redid them. looks exactly like the goo around the oil pans and the transmission casing. As for the other mistakes I got stuck fixing, like replacing all the melted hoses, I used regular heater hose from Autozone, wrapped everyone with this rubber tape you can get from Wally world, walmart-in the plubling sec, and shaped them with plastic molds. So far it has been barable, but have a lot more work to finish as result of my rage over the whole mess. I had a moment of temporary insanity and beat the shit out of the car, threw whatever I could at it, broke the glass-all of it and when it was all said and done, just laughed at what a dumb ass I was for buying the CRAPTERA. Dont get me wrong, loved the car when it wasnt in the shop everyother week for GM's piss poor designs and crap parts, the car drove great and was fun to be in, but start the recalls and breaking down everyday because of slopply dealer repairs, it got to be a nightmare.
let me know if this compares to your experiences.

Originally Posted by dhulboy

Any one have leaky cam covers ?

Mine started at about 60K miles.

Looks like you have to remove throttle body & plenum & intake maifold to get to them, and the gaskets are expensive. $60 ea for cam cover and I haven't priced the plenum, intake manifold & throttle body yet.

Any past experience or comments appreciated.

[dhulboy]

Let me get this straight:

1) You replaced the cam cover gaskets and used spray gasket sealer instead of buying the GM gaskets?
1a) If so, did you have to take the plenum, manifold & throttle body off to get the cam cover of or not ?
1b) If so, did you also use sealant for those gaskets or did you buy gaskets?
2) What did you mean by "flooded spark plugs" , fuel or oil? When I pulled the spark plug boot out the plug cavity filled with oil. Since I have no experinece with OHC engines, I'm not sure if that is normal or not. I swabbed it clean and and did not end up with a miss, but don't know if it should have been there or not????

I also love the drive, ride & size of the car. If it had a push rod engine it would be the 'perfect' car.

Originally Posted by sjashbrook

Oh yeah, and flooded spark plugs to boot. I took the car in for the timing belt recall recently and had the dealer blow smoke about fixing "crossover leak" due to the amount of bs I've put up with the car and all problems. They didn't fix crap, but made the problems much worse and more costly. They failed to attach the heater hose control module back to the post, so it melted and leaked like a stuck hog until I figured out what the hell they had done. Anyway, I was like you got to be a crack or something when they gave the est. for repairs to get the covers replaced and leaked corrected-labor rate of 98.00 at about 19 hours give or take..............that was every dealership w/in 100 radius. I have no mechanical no how to save my ass, but I learned real fast with a lot, I mean alot of research and getting the service manuals helped. I have now replaced the cam covers(so misleading) and put in my plugs, and wires-thanks to ebay. The wire set were 186.00 per side from dealer 65.00 for both set on ebay and good condition too. as for the cam gasket/valve cover gasket/seal whatever the damn name is, I took a big gasp and used that gasket maker in a can stuff from Autozone. The one that claims to be OEM cert and used in million fleet miles with no problem. the only problem is with the claim "makes 8-10 4cycl valve covers". BS-it took two cans to complete the job, albeit I put that crap on thick, even forgot the o-rings, but went back and redid them. looks exactly like the goo around the oil pans and the transmission casing. As for the other mistakes I got stuck fixing, like replacing all the melted hoses, I used regular heater hose from Autozone, wrapped everyone with this rubber tape you can get from Wally world, walmart-in the plubling sec, and shaped them with plastic molds. So far it has been barable, but have a lot more work to finish as result of my rage over the whole mess. I had a moment of temporary insanity and beat the crap out of the car, threw whatever I could at it, broke the glass-all of it and when it was all said and done, just laughed at what a dumb ass I was for buying the CRAPTERA. Dont get me wrong, loved the car when it wasnt in the shop everyother week for GM's piss poor designs and crap parts, the car drove great and was fun to be in, but start the recalls and breaking down everyday because of slopply dealer repairs, it got to be a nightmare.
let me know if this compares to your experiences.

[Speedingpenguin]

Bah. Me too. Smoke billows from both of the valve/cam covers after running for half an hour. Gonna replace them this summer, as well as the spark plugs, wires, etc. Or if i can get away with the ol' drop o' transmission fluid in the cylinders to burn out and clean all the gunk, i'll do that instead. Actually now that my engine is nice and clean, it doesnt look hard at all. And i will be using probably the gasket material you can buy at Autozone for 6 bucks a roll. Before the car was put in my hands, the mechanic my dad went to said 36 bucks for parts or something, and 350 dollars for labor. I was like 'noooo thanks. I'll do it myself...'
I've got a friend whos worked in garages since before he could remember, so if anything goes wrong i have his number and he'll be able to help me out, so thats good..
And yes, i will be documenting the repairs with pics and discriptions. haha

[Luxury]

The oil leaks from the cam covers and fills the spark plug holes. This causes misfires and the plug wires break down from the oil contact.

[Cadi Cat]

Is the cam cover and valve cover gasket the same thing?

[elvin315]

The reason the camcovers leak is that the crankcase breathers clog with sludge. Pressure builds, lifts the plastic covers, and the oil blows out. It dribbles down to the exhaust manifold heatshields and burns in a cloud of smoke. Our cousins over at the Omega Owners Forum have excellent write-ups describing the gasket replacement and the breather cleansing. If you find them helpful a quick thank you would be nice. They're suckers for a good "Pip Pip" and a "Jolly Good".

Gaskets:
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152564281

Breathers:
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152598350

Elvin