camshaft seal keeps leaking

[danturbo4311]

Iv been running speedvision cams for about 8000 miles been keeping a close eye on them due to the problems others have had with head, valve & cam damage etc. As im also running his uprated valve springs too but with custom retainers, to set the correct spring base pressure. So far it has all held up good with no damage to components (yet, touch wood).

However the problem I have had is that the camshaft seal keeps leaking, it gets on the belts & goes everywhere in the bay. Iv changed the cam seal twice now & it continues to leak. The camshaft itself which the seal goes around is in good condition so I cant see why it still leaks.

Anyone else had this problem as Im beginning to think the cams themselves may been machined to much were the seal goes, but the only way Ill no that is to take them out again & get the micrometer on it & compare it to the standard cam.

 

[Morph]

Have you put sealer on the cam sprocket bolt dude as they are hollow cams if I remember right so oil is feed thru them buddy.

 

[danturbo4311]

I put a bit on the bolt, when fitting it but Im thinking I should try some PTFE tape around it, as it may seal better will give this a go now.

 

[Morph]

Might be worth trying that dude other than trying that or looking at the seal which blanks the inlet cam end as I've seen them leak occasionally.

 

[danturbo4311]

Iv put some ptfe tape round the cam bolt with a bit of sealer just gonna let it dry & give it a go see if it still leaks. Its definetly coming from the exhaust cam seal, when its running I left the top belt cover off & can see it slowing dripping down the head, also when I changed the seal you can see the oil around the outer part of the seal which should be dry.
Cheers morph will let you no the outcome, but I really dont wanna take the cam off again its to cold for all that lol.

 

[Morph]

No problem dude let me know seems odd for it to do that matey only other thing could be the cam like you say but way to cold to be stripping engines at the mo.

 

[weeJohn]

Are you putting fresh sealant on the bottom of the seal cap when you refit it? If the oil is coming out around the outside and not the inside its not the cams that are causing the problem. We had this problem on the track car but a new seal solved it.

 

[dac69er]

Are you putting fresh sealant on the bottom of the seal cap when you refit it? If the oil is coming out around the outside and not the inside its not the cams that are causing the problem. We had this problem on the track car but a new seal solved it.

this is a strange one as i dissasembled 2 engines which didnt leak in that area and neither had any sealant where the cap touched the head. there is nothing actually stopping oil getting through but it just didnt seem too?

my dad suggested sticking a bit of hylomar universal blue sealant in there, which i did. hope mine doesnt leak!

 

[danturbo4311]

Just checked it and looks like its still leaking, Iv cleaned it off again and will recheck after another drive just incase it stops lol (i wish).
Weejohn, yea I put new sealant around the cap to when fitting it, used the same sealant that I used around the sump and thats bone dry. Not that it should make a difference but just thought id add that im running a tuning development adjustable cam pulley too.

 

[Texx]

Does the oil leak out between the camshaft and the seal or between the outer face of the seal and the cylinder head?

 

[danturbo4311]

It was hard to tell really but when I changed the seal it looked like it was leaking between the camshaft and the seal but I suppose when the cams been rotating around it throws it all over the place. Think i might have to strip it down again and have a good look at the cap and seal also measure the cam were the seal goes to make sure its not been machined to much. As its one of the cam sets which had problems. these problems included:

the cam gears not fitting properly due to them not being machined enough,
the cam pulley didnt fit properly on the locating lug this is also due to not being machined enough,
the mark for the locating pin for cam gear not in the correct position therefore the timing mark on the exhaust cam was in the wrong position

The reason why i continued to use these cams after all the problems was because I had already spent a lot of money on the head to match the cams before some of the issues become clear. I had the base pressure for the springs matched to the lobes with custom valve retainers made & had it all shimmed up, and paid to get the cams polished to give them a better finish. I also thought that it wasnt possible for anything else to go wrong with them lol. But on the plus side these cams have worked well with my set up and made good power, its just this leak is annoying me.