Oil leak

[Stevejoy5]

Hello everyone. I seem to have an issue, so i had mot last year and all was fine. Few days later i get an oil leak, turned out to be cam seals (v6 petrol 2.5) so changed them and cleaned the whole engine up of oil and that was that, done few camping trips and a tour of the country all fine and had a great time. Mot was due again so booked it in and all was dry even looked under van while it was on ramps and was spotless not a drop. The mechanic even said yep all looks great under hear the leak gone. So few days later guess what !!! Bloody leaks back again !! Im not joking i think from a brief look the cam seals have gone again !! We did about 3k miles last year so is it we are not using her enough ?? Any ideas from you long standing bongo people.

[Ian]

I don't have a V6 anymore. But a few years back I had the same problem. It was caused by a faulty "oil breather" which is an integral part of the engine block, not available as a separate item. And as a result the first place to "blow" was the cam seals. Until I ditched the V6 (for other reasons) the cam seals, all 4 of them, had to be replaced annually.

[g8dhe]

Oh not heard of that one before Ian any clues as to where this breather is located ?

[Stevejoy5]

That makes sense i guess but why is it annually ? Thats what i dont get surely they would blow soon after replacement ? Or is it pressure over time? I was sure i suspected this last year so checked all breathers and pipes and they were clear. Maybe ive missed a breather.

[Ian]

I went back and had a look in my archives and found the following. The seals weren't changed annually, just the once in 2 years of ownership. But they had been changed before I bought the vehicle along with the timing belt. The mechanic who was trying to identify the oil leak at first thought it was the rocker cover gaskets so they were changed but it didn't solve the problem. It was taken back in again (the garage was near Huddersfield) and he did a thorough investigation and found a crack in something he called a breather on the offside cylinder. He said this had led to a pressure build up and the cam seals had blown. They were replaced, but there was still a slight leak.

In an old file I found a scan from the parts manual with the cracked part identified. If you go to this page http://www.lushprojects.com/bongopartsm ... mgno=.html and look at the middle of the schematic, far left, there is a semi-circular thing just above stud 10-108A (no. 1). It was this that had a hairline crack.

[g8dhe]

Isn't that the part that is machined in place to hold the cam shaft seal/bearing in position, which is why it can't easily be replaced as they machine it in position to hold with the correct alignment.

[Ian]

That makes sense Geoff. But it was a long time ago (2008?) and I can't remember what the mechanic said exactly.

[g8dhe]

Yup I recall you having that problem as it was only shortly after we had got ours!
The breather is small valve device with the vacuum system pulling excess fumes and pressure 13-890 on the same page at the back of the engine, usually a little green thing which the plastic snaps on!