Hi.
As the weather has been kind the last week I have now caught up with some pending jobs on the Doblo.
One thing that had been put off was the porous sump.
So I obtained a new manicat to head gasket new sump and sealer, after draining off the oil and removing the manicat etc the sump was removed, the sealer had also been very poorly applied with odd bits having very little or no sealer to be seen.
While I was in there I could see one bellhousing bolt actually loose! I then tried them all and none was any more than finger tight, so much for a garage clutch replacement!
To cut the story down the replacement went perfectly and all is well.
Snag though I still have a little drip it is on the timing belt side, a new rocker gasket was carefully fitted but with NO sealer (was that wrong?)
The drip is seen on the oil filter housing and also an the power steering pump and after a while a little from behind the crankshaft pulley. The timing belt is not contaminated.
Any Ideas?

Hi Guys.
Just a wee bump, has anyone some ideas?

there is a guide for 8v engine cam cover seal (rocker cover) in punto guides

Well I replaced the Cam cover gasket once again and did as I saw in the thread with the 4 spots of sealer. I steam cleaned the full engine and ran it, it took three days for a drop of oil to appear on my driveway. A good look makes me think the oil is appearing at the joint between the head and the block from the edge of the head gasket. There is no leak from the cam cover nor at the camshaft seal I also have replaced the "O" ring at the back of the camshaft.
I take it there is a seal which is part of the head gasket for the feed to the cam bearings & spraybar, could this seal have lost its effectiveness?

its almost unknown for the head gasket to go between an oil way and the out side on these engines. did you seal the whole gasket or just put 4 blobs?

Hi Dave.
Yes I sealed the gasket with 4 blobs, after a full steam clean there is no oil to be seen above the block on the head area but there is a tiny stream about 2 inches in from the timing belt end of the engine on the block! It takes about two hours of running before you see any oil so it is quite slight.

It eventually will drip off the crank position sensor

i use sealer on the whole face for the gasket with a little extra at the 4 points

Thanks Dave.
I will try the full sealer trick and have another go. The leak is not bad but annoys me, the engine uses about half a cup in 6 months (the level has dropped by a couple of mm on the dipstick) but I usually do two oil and filter changes in a year so that's about 5000 miles. the car has now done 110,000 miles.

Hi.
Here is where most of the oil sits on a flange below the lower edge of the head. It eventually runs down the block and and onto the crank sensor and surrounding area.

Hi I have confirmed that the leak is from the edge of the head gasket, no doubt about it.
One question the gasket was replaced in 2006 and the head was skimmed. I have no overheating problems no water loss, so will it be OK to replace the gasket "without" skimming the head again?
1242 8v FIRE engine.

Hi.
Any answers to post 10 please? I need to know before tackling the job!

Are you sure it is the head gasket and not oil from higher up running around the head/block interface?

If the oil leak is small and you are suffering no other problems like lost compression, oil/water mixing wtc. etc. then I would possibly be tempted to clean it all up with engine cleaner (whole engine head and block) then dust around both with talk. This will allow you to quickly find the source of the leak.

Then I would just run for a while to see how much and fast the oil accumalates. If not that bad would then possibly just leave things be and occasionally clean up until the leak gets worse or something else happens.

Skimming the head would do no harm but this can only be done a limited number of times.

What I do when I have taken a head off in the past is get a piece of glass, 4mm plus thick and larger than the head surface size. This you place on a flat even surface. Secure some light grade emmery paper over the glass. Now gently place the head face down on top. Now gently slide the head around for a short while.

Lift head off and turn over. You should be able to see where the head has beed sanded. If it is even all over the head then you do not need to skim the head.

Note! heads tend to warp/bend. This will be evident by the "run-out" of the sanding across or along the head. Little areas not sanded but surrounded by sanded areas is not a problem. If concerned then place the head face down and slide around again. This time you may want spray the emmery (wet&dry) paper with water.

Many thanks s130.
I attacked the job on Saturday & Sunday. I certainly don't think I want to do one of those gaskets everyday! The old rear engine Skodas were a doddle in comparison to this one, far too many disconnects!
Anyway when I got the head off it was quite obvious why there was an oil leak, the dowel on the left hand side of the engine was long gone and the gasket was incorrectly aligned, you could see this in the marks made by the holes etc for water and oil drain.
After doing this two other faults I put down to mileage were cured, namely ticking tappets at low revs, no doubt down to poor oil supply, and quick build up of pressure in the water system although there was no water leaks or over heating.
So far there are no oil leaks, so fingers crossed.