Cam cover gasket

[Lancaster-c5]

Hi all /Jim
I have had very faint oil smell inside the car, this is noticeable when the car engine is hot and the car has stopped .I have been told that it could be the cam cover gasket seal where it leaks oil on to the hot v6 engine .
Has anyone had the same problem and what is the fix.
Cheers Howard .

[CitroJim]

I will go into a full explanation later Howard, unless I'm beaten to it...

I need to marshal some pictures and things...

[xantia_v6]

See here for a non-illustrated description of the job. It is possible to do just the upper joints without removing the timing gear, but it can be difficult to see whether the leak is from the upper or lower joint.

[Mandrake]

Watching this thread with interest as mine will need doing some time...

Howard - the smell will be drips of oil from the rear of the cam-boxes on the rear bank down onto the exhaust system. If you look down the back of the engine at the exhaust before the flexible joint you'll most likely see some discoloration there from oil that has dripped onto it and burnt off. I smell a little bit of burnt oil on mine if I do a long/fast trip after lots of short around town driving... The oil drips onto the exhaust during the around town driving but it doesn't get hot enough to burn it off. When you go for a long motorway trip it burns the oil off the exhaust and smells a little bit for a while...not necessarily a major issue in terms of oil loss as a single drop of oil on an exhaust will make quite a stink.

[CitroJim]

Mike, that's an excellent description of the job.. I'm not going to add anything except to offer the following pictures to illustrate some aspects of the job...

The cambox lid showing the integral (and reusable) sealing bead:



The cam ladder removed allowing the camshaft to be removed and exposing the lower jointing surface...



And a close-up of the sealant groove...



It is absolutely vital to clean every last trace of the old sealant from this groove and make it spotlessly clean. Then all you need is a very tiny bead of new sealant. Too much and the seal will not be good...

Howard, if you need the guide to removing and replacing the cambelt then get in touch as I have a big PDF of the procedure. I can't post it but I can email it upon request.

Note that you need some tools to do the cambelt and that basically means five locking pegs and a contrivance to rotate the camshafts on their vernier pulleys. I can supply locking peg diameters and the camshafts can be adequately rotated using an inside-out Torx bit (E-Star) on the cam hub bolt. It's done up biblically tight so you won't undo it just aligning cams. Also, there's no need to remove the hubs when lifting the cams to do the sealing job although it does help to remove the outer vernier pulleys...

Hope that helps...

[Lancaster-c5]

Hi all.
Thanks for all the replies ,I will have a go at sealing the the cam covers as I think that is where the leak is.
Howard

[CitroJim]

Howard, hope the cam cover sealing worked...

Forgot to add this info on cam cover tightening sequence and torque settings

and cam ladder tightening sequences and torque settings.

Both of which are pretty critical and important I believe..