Monte951

Just rebuilt the top of the engine and my lovely wife has been driving it for less than two months. My lovely wife noticed smoke a quickly pulled over. She looked inside and exclaimed that the car was bleeding. (probably just a oil leak) I got there and looked and the damn thing was bleeding. At idle a steady stream of oil was flowing out above the 3rd exhaust pipe back between the head and the cam tower. Upon further inspection it seems that the gasket is ripped because it is creeping towards the drivers side of the car.
I have looked up this problem and the consensus is that the paper gasket sucks. Something about it sliding out due to the aluminum cam tower heating and expanding and cooling and contracting. Either way I need to replace this with a better gasket or a better installation process. I'm leaning to the LR cam tower gasket. http://www.lindseyracing.com/mm5/mer...y_Code=COMETIC

Any ideas why this happened and how to keep it from happening again?

Techno Duck

Check the two mating surfaces to see if they are both true (flat). I had planned to get that MLS cam tower gasket also for my car when i eventually pull the cam tower again. However i wonder if this gasket is more or less forgiving as the paper gasket to an uneven mating surface. Sort of like how the MLS head gaskets are very temperamental to mating surfaces with the cylinder head and block.

Also when you installed the cam tower, did you torque in sequence? If i remember right there is no sequence in the factory manual, but working inside out in a x-pattern is the way to do it.

And man do i hate pulling that cam tower off. Nothing like dumping oil all over the headers and having to deal with lifters falling out..such a messy, PITA job. And that is assuming all of those allen head bolts come out without stripping! All of that followed by the 20 minutes of oil burning off that is soaked up by the header insulation..fun times.

Mark-87-951

Mine tore and now I'm using the lindsey metal gasket. Just make sure you don't do the stupid mistake I made when I didn't look for the Top marking on the gasket. Nothing like putting extra wear on your lifters for awhile.

Brett

I have the LR gasket after my paper one was leaking. Bone Dry now and just make sure you use NEW cam tower bolts, very important, don't ask me how I found this out!

Monte951

Thanks guys. Looks like i'm going to be ordering the new tower bolts as well. The mating surfaces are true and the head was just machined. I'l try the LR gasket and some new bolts.

Bri Bro

I have used the factory gasket on several cars and no leaks so far. I doubt the factory gasket is the problem. How flat the sealing surfaces are and how you tighten the gasket down should be looked at.

azmi951

I had a customer car do the paper gasket rip. Ended up that the cam box was not flat. had to be surfaced.