Cam towers leaking

[kshacklett]

I have a 1989 3.2 in a 914. To make a long story as short as possible, I have an oil leak which has been determined to be coming from the cam towers. I wouldn't call the leak severe, but naturally it drips on my exhaust and drives me nuts. Supposedly the sealant that was used (when rebuilding the motor) couldn't stand the heat and failed. I greatly improved the heat problem by installing an additional oil cooler but the damage was already done. I was told that we're talking around 40 hours (by professionals) to drop the motor and replace the sealant. No can do.

I'm going to take on the job myself, which will probably take me 80 hours. Before I make preparations to drop the motor I'm wondering if by any chance I could somehow replace sealant just by separating the towers enough to jam some more sealant in. Must I replace all gaskets and clean everything up, or is there a chance my lazy man scheme might work?

[john walker's workshop]

Originally Posted by kshacklett

. Before I make preparations to drop the motor I'm wondering if by any chance I could somehow replace sealant just by separating the towers enough to jam some more sealant in. Must I replace all gaskets and clean everything up, or is there a chance my lazy man scheme might work?

no. there's scraping and cleaning to do that requires disassembly.
if that's all you intend to do, then gut the chain housings and then remove them. then remove all the head nuts, (the 24 allen head barrel nuts), and remove heads and cam tower as a completely assembled unit, cams rockers and all. remove the rockers and cams. then remove the heads from the towers and then you can do the cleanup. i've been using DIRKO for a while with great results, but there are a few other trusted sealants. mark the heads so they can mate with the same cylinders they were on previously.

[kshacklett]

Thanks John Walker's. I'll save your comments in my Porsche folder. I won't start this operation until spring. In the meantime if anyone can recommend a publication to get me more familiar with this motor (which I've never had apart) I'll get to studying. I have a Hanes book, and that's it.

[JohnJL]

Our Host's Engine Rebuild book is your best friend.

[kshacklett]

I'll check it out. Thanks.

[Eagledriver]

Before you do this make sure that the sealant is indeed where your leak is. This is almost never the source of leakage in that area. 90 percent of the time it's a rocker shaft leak. You can tell by removing the rocker covers and looking/feeling the ends of the shafts to see if oil is in the bores. Sometimes the shafts "walk" out of position and cause a large leak. Also those shafts are installed in the center of the rocker arm not the center of the bore. In other words one end of the shaft will be recessed about 1/3 inch and the other end will be almost flush with the end of the bore.

-Andy

[Aurel]

Good point. I wonder if it is possible to unbolt the rocker shafts, install RSR seals, and put them back, while the engine is still in the car. Hummm...

Aurel

[North Coast Cab]

I did it similar to the way JW described. I left the exhaust attached to the heads and I believe I left the cams and rockers in. Just make sure you check timing and Cam-Int Shaft alignment. It seemed to be off a little after reattaching everything.