Cam Oil Seals Leaking

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weyre
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 7:31 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat 124 Spider

Cam Oil Seals Leaking

Post by weyre »

I'm sure many have had this issue but I have not seen response to this specific question. I believe that I have a situation whereby my 1979 Fiat 124 spider is leaking oil into my spark plugs. I belive, that this is a cam seal lealk. However, I don't have the money to fix this right now. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop gap this?
Is there any kind of additive that I can add? Does anyone have any thougths on how much this might cost to fix assuming its just the seal?
Cheers
Parrish
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geospider
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Your car is a: 1979 Spider 2000
Location: concord, ca

Re: Cam Oil Seals Leaking

Post by geospider »

First, clean everything and see if you can find where the leak is actually coming from.

Fairly often this can come from the oil cap: new rubber gasket help here. Is the oil in the 1 and maybe 2 spark plug?
Also check and see if from the cam covers.

these 2 are the easiest. although the cam box gaskets are not that tough to do.

let us know.

Geo
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aj81spider
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Your car is a: 1974 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: Chelmsford, MA

Re: Cam Oil Seals Leaking

Post by aj81spider »

By leaking into the spark plugs do you mean oil accumulates on top of the head in the spark plug wells?

That could be a cam tower gasket, however I had this problem and it was the valve covers. The valve covers need to be flat (easy to check - take them off and put on a flat surface). The gaskets for the valve covers are inexpensive. I could never get the cork ones to seal. I use the rubber ones.

Most importantly - do not overtighten the bolts holding the valve cover down. That will deform the valve cover and leak like crazy. The bolts are hand tightened then an additional quarter to half turn with the allen wrench.
A.J.

1974 Fiat 124 Spider
2006 Corvette
1981 Spider 2000 (sold 2013 - never should have sold that car)
TwinFast
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Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: Cam Oil Seals Leaking

Post by TwinFast »

aj81spider wrote: I could never get the cork ones to seal. I use the rubber ones.

Most importantly - do not overtighten the bolts holding the valve cover down. That will deform the valve cover and leak like crazy. The bolts are hand tightened then an additional quarter to half turn with the allen wrench.
I totally agree with this.
You also could use some High température
black silicone over the rubber gasket. It works well for me an stop the leaking.
Fiat 124 Spider 1.8L 1978
Jaguar XKR 4.2L 2009
Harley Davidson Fat Bob 96Ci 2011
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