Camshaft seal (halfmoon shaped seal) leaks?

[ace33joe]

I recently noticed some oil leaks from the camshaft seal (that halfmoon shaped seal located at the cylinder head near the thermostat housing).

My car is a 03 EVO, and has 17,500 miles.

I haven't opened the valve cover, so it has the original gasket and seals from the factory. I guess I will try to fasten the valve cover bolts with my torque wrench to see whether they are fastened to the spec, but is this normal to have oil leak (even it is minor) for the engine that is mostly stock (except WORKS P2) and less than 3 years old?

I believe it has nothing to do with the oil viscosity, but it probably won't help using a little bit higher viscosity oil than stock Mobil1 10W30?

One more thing, is there any part that can be updated if I have to open the valve cover and replace the gasket and seals? (e.g. valve lash adjuster?)

[Dr. Evo]

Warranty.

[MarkSAE]

That seal has always been prone to leak on DSMs. I'm guessing the evo seal is no different. I always just gooped a lot of RTV on all sealing surfaces to get the leaks to stop.

[ace33joe]

Thanks for the advice, Dr.EVO and MarkSAE.

If I put Sealant on the outside of the halfmoon seal, will it stop leaking? I can always remove valve cover and put enough sealant around the seal (service manual says I should apply sealant around that seal before install), but it will take some time to remove and reinstall it.

Oh, well. I may just have to bring it to the dealership for warranty.

[StockEVO]

Pop off your valve cover remove the half moon, clean the half moon and where it sit, clean the surface where the valve cover seats, put some grey RTV silicone on the corner of the head where the valve cover be seating, and some on the half moon and the top and throw the valve cover back on and snug the bolts down to 12 ft. lbs. No need to take that crap back to the dealer. :roll:

[MarkSAE]

12 ft-lbs is going to snap the heads off those bolts or strip the thread inside the head. Torque spec for the valve cover bolts is 36 in-lbs! ;)

[ZK]

12 ft-lbs is going to snap the heads off those bolts or strip the thread inside the head. Torque spec for the valve cover bolts is 36 in-lbs! ;)

:lol: do you really need to torque bolts on a valve cover?

[StockEVO]

Yeah that's what I meant. I was thinking about my man-hood when I gave the specs.


12 ft-lbs is going to snap the heads off those bolts or strip the thread inside the head. Torque spec for the valve cover bolts is 36 in-lbs! ;)

[Jamie@WORKS]

That seal has always been prone to leak on DSMs. I'm guessing the evo seal is no different. I always just gooped a lot of RTV on all sealing surfaces to get the leaks to stop.

The EVO seal is aluminum vs the DSM rubber. I thought that would have rectified the leakage issue, but I guess not.

[smack]

12 ft-lbs is going to snap the heads off those bolts or strip the thread inside the head. Torque spec for the valve cover bolts is 36 in-lbs! ;)

actually i'd be more worried about cracking the mag cover(i've heard of it happening) :shock: before snapping a head off one of the bolts. either way not good.

i saw that 3lbs. spec when i did my cams and had to recheck that it was really that low.
damn things practically felt finger tight when it was done :lol:

[ace33joe]

That seal has always been prone to leak on DSMs. I'm guessing the evo seal is no different. I always just gooped a lot of RTV on all sealing surfaces to get the leaks to stop.

The EVO seal is aluminum vs the DSM rubber. I thought that would have rectified the leakage issue, but I guess not.

Really??? The halfmoon shaped seal was aluminum? I could see the valve cover gasket is black rubber, but I couldn't really see that halfmoon shaped seal itself, because there is some kind of bracket blocking the view. I am surprised if it is made of aluminum.