Little Hole Below Cam Cover

[roy666]

Hi All... can anyone tell me what the function of this hole is please? The new engine (2nd hand of course) has been just great but I am getting oil settling in the bottom of the spark plug well area right next to this little hole (black spot in the middle of the pic). I think oil is coming through there.. just a small amount. Is it supposed to be blanked off? cheers Mike

LotHole1.jpg

[Tuga2112]

if you just pop out the leads, you can get a much better picture of what your talking about.

the plugs are swapped every year as part of the maintenance, you shouldhnv have any issues unplugging the leads and plugging them back in. just make sure the leads go back into the same plugs they came out.

[roy666]

Hi G.. thanks for that. Does this help..with the arrow marking the spot?
cheers M

[TorqueHorse]

Hey Roy,
I don't know if its "normal", but I've noticed the oil ingress on mine as well in the past. I am in the process of rebuilding it right now and when I had the head disassembled I could see that the hole goes all the way through the block to the outside face, so it can act as a weep hole if stuff gets in that spark plug trough I'm guessing. There is one on each side of the block/spark plug bay.
When I was cleaning it, I shot brake cleaner in there with the little straw and it did seem like it was connected to the rest of the oil gallery, but couldn't be sure.
Hope that helps.

[roy666]

Thanks T... that does make sense. I do have oil seepage from somewhere underneath the Oil Separator;.. perhaps its coming in from there. I'll take a closer look and use your idea of spraying cleaner through it..cheers M

[HJ2]

The valve cover & plug holes should be bone dry!
Can you zoom in where the leak is?

[Simon_P]

Loose spark plug?

[TorqueHorse]

Well as (bad) luck would have it, I have oil pooling in that spot right now.



This is still on the hoist mind you where I've only put oil in the channels for the HVL/tappets and basic assembly lubrication around the cams. I think this illustrates what Roy is pointing at.

[HJ2]

Strange. I’ll have a look on a spare head later…

[roy666]

Hi Chaps - I did spray some brake cleaner in the hole, expecting to find some residue or indication of it on the outside somewhere under the oil separator... but nothing at all. So not sure where it all went. However, having cleaned up the spark plug well area, checked tightness of the plugs, and then went for a spin,.. I still have a v small indication of fresh oil. Its beyond me, I'll leave it to the more technical sleuths! cheers Mike

[HJ2]

Now i remember that there should be a topic on here on the same matter.
Perhaps you can find it

[Tuga2112]

it could be the top seal. im assuming the elan has one, I had to change that one on my Celica many years ago.

if you have fully sintetic oil. you can take a black light, and clean up the area very throlouly.
i have found that some (maybe the majority) sintetic oils have additives to make them glow in the black light to help find leaks. you may be able to clean it all extremely well, then start the car and let it iddle for a bit while inspecting with the black light.

dont forget to confirm if there is any glow first by checking the dipstick