Oil leak from exhaust cam seal

[hancash]

Hi Everyone, my first post.
I have gotten a ton of helpful hints on this site while fixing many different things on my '81 Spider that I bought a year ago. I love the car, but seems like every time I fix something, a new problem presents itself.

I have a leak at the very back bolt of the exhaust side cam box. The oil seeps down and lands right on the exhaust and make a big stink.
I searched the forums but none was specific on how to replace this seal/gasket.
I am not planning on head gasket or timing belt replacements yet. I just wanted to plug that leak for now.
Is there a way to do this without disassembling half the engine?

Thanks.

[Nut124]

The bolt that holds the cam box down to the head?

Is it leaking under the bolt head or from the gasket between the cam box and the head?

[Nut124]

Replacing the EX cam box gasket involves:
1. drain or lower coolant level
2. disconnect the coolant outlet T off the head
3. check/record cam timing marks for later
4. remove timing belt cover
5. Remove timing belt
6. remove dizzy
7. remove the cam box
9. scrape off the old gasket
10. reinstall
11. install belt, set cam timing
12. install dizzy, set ignition timing

A leak there is pretty unusual in my opinion. Could the oil be coming from the dizzy base?

If the gasket is leaking, the threads in the head could be stripped. It's pretty easy/common to over torque these bolts and strip the threads.

[hancash]

Hi Nut123,
The oil leak is from the gasket between the cam box and the head. The location of the leak is beside the last bolt in the back of the engine that holds down the cam box to the head.

Thanks for the step-by-step instructions, even though it was the answer I was afraid of.

Looks like I might as well replace the timing belt and whatever should be replaced "while I'm there". The PO said it was done 8 years/20k miles ago.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Yes, I would replace the timing belt as 20K miles is close enough to the recommended 25K change interval.

Have you checked how tight that last bolt is, where the leak is? If it has just loosened up over time (not common), you could gently see if you can tighten some more. Use care in case the threads are starting to strip.

-Bryan

[Nut124]

The threads in the head are pretty easily stripped by excessive torque. I try not to exceed 13-14 ft-lbs on these and use a small in-lbs torque wrench.