Cam Cover Gasket

[Rob P]

Guys I am getting round to doing another little cosmetic job on the engine bay and need a new Cam Cover Gasket, have done a couple of searches but can't seem to determine where I can pick one of these up from.
Any guidance please and and comments on issues to watch out for when taking the Cam Cover off and returning it after it's been cleaned up and repainted?

[Fredjohn]

Rob
Must try harder :See here !!

Part no: A100E6284S

Never removed it so no tips. Anyone else?

John

[Rob P]

Rob
Must try harder :See here !!

Part no: A100E6284S

John

Cheers John, will try harder in future, and I have saved a link to SJS on the laptop as well

[Fredjohn]

Rob
It is also available from Rockauto for between £3.35-£9.95 plus shipping (and duty if they bother at that level). Look under Isuzu Impulse, 1992 1.6L4 Turbo, Engine, valve cover gasket.
Unfortunately the shipping costs (£21-£32!!!!!) are more than SJ's price, so even with % discount from Rockauto you won't save.

Paul Matty may also stock it as indeed other Lotus non-franchise specialists.

John

[dapinky]

Rob,

I have found that the gaskets are quite often re-usable, as they are good quality rubber (unless they've been squashed too much on assembly).

A smear of black silicone on the flat edge may help (you need to put dabs of it round the camshaft bits anyway).

[HJ2]

Beat me to it

[Rob P]

Cheers guys, will remove the cam cover this weekend and see how I get on, hopefully it will be re-useable

[DABgp]

Cheers guys, will remove the cam cover this weekend and see how I get on, hopefully it will be re-useable

I've a leak from mine Rob, so I will be interested to know how you get on.

[HJ2]

Where's the leak?

Anyway, if you remove the cam cover and take the seal out, and it is still flexible rubber and not hardenend, i would clean everything, place it back with the beads of silicone at the sharp edges where the recesses of the cams are and try again if it still leaks.

When still leaky... Then you could silicone the lot, but i really would not prefer that. there's always the risk that a small silicone part gets undone and dissapears in the oil. We all know that that would be bad news....

So if a proper refit does not cure the leak, just replace the seal for a new one as they are not that expensive and stop tinkering around.

Are you sure you don't suffer from the infamous leaky cam bung seal or CAS seal on the LH side of the block? If so replace the O-rings with Viton ones and you're done!
(my 2 cents anyway)

[DABgp]

Where's the leak?

Here

[HJ2]

I'd start with new Viton O-seals for CAS (mark position before remove) and CAM bung.
Cheap as chips, and approx. 1 hour of work you can do yourself

[DABgp]

I'd start with new Viton O-seals for CAS (mark position before remove) and CAM bung.
Cheap as chips, and approx. 1 hour of work you can do yourself

Thanks HJ2

[dapinky]

1 Hr?...

...you must have stopped for lunch

[HJ2]

When you need to mark CAS, and remove theCAS & bung without experience... Nope, that is without lunch
Taken into account that you start with a clean garage with clean tools, and you end that way too

And yes, i'm a slow tinkerer, but with reliable results

[Fourdoorcat]

When I did mine, I found that it started to leak. When checking the fixing torque again, the bolts were quite loose. Tightened them one more time and all was well.

I suggest you torque it to spec (using the sequence in the manual) then do it again after a couple of weeks.

I've done these in other cars with no issues. This one seems fussy for some reason.

Ken

[Rob P]

Didn't ever get around to this but decided as I had the sump and exhaust off the car I thought I would see about getting this job done as well, I have picked up a new gasket and in the process of finishing off the painting of the Cam Cover.
Question is the manual says 3nm for torqueing up the Cam cover which seems really light pressure. I wouldn't go against the manual but just wanted to check that others who have done this have used these torque figures and had no issues

[dapinky]

I have only ever done it up with a screwdriver, so can't tell you the accurate torque figures used - but it doesn't leak!

[CalElan]

Did mine with a pretty short allen key so quite hard to get excessive torque. I think it's a good tip to re-check after everything has been properly warmed through - mine felt very loose at that point.

[Rob P]

I have only ever done it up with a screwdriver, so can't tell you the accurate torque figures used - but it doesn't leak!

And that's what counts Dave