Technical Rocker cover oil leak.

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Technical Rocker cover oil leak.

Albert Alfvag

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Hello. Albert from Sweden checking in. It's those three months of the year now that I can be outside and get some work done.

So the thing is, I've had some oil seeping out from around the rocker cover gasket for quite a while now. Last year I replaced the gasket thinking it would solv the problem but I don't think it has. I was careful not to over tighten the bolts and so just snugged them down.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe the problem could the the seal on the distributor shaft but I'm not sure.

But I do know that I would like an engine not covered in oil. Any advice would be appreciated and I'll post a picture so you can see the problem.

All the best.
Albert
 

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Gosh, that photo takes me back. My daughter's first car (she's now verging on middle age, and married with 2 kids) was a 750 Panda with distributor ignition.

The oil seems to be too well spread out for it to be the distributor alone being responsible? Of course it might be involved, but there's a lot of oil showing along the front above the exhaust manifold isn't there. I would be taking the cam cover off again and checking that it's gasket hasn't displaced in some way and also, if you didn't do so when you fitted it, I'd be applying some sealant to the corners around where the cover goes up over the distributor. (clean the oil on the gasket and in the groove with carb cleaner or similar).

Once it's all back together clean it off well so you can regularly monitor whether it's still leaking and then you should be able to see exactly where it's coming from - As it is you've no chance of seeing where it's coming from because there's just so much oil generally spread around.

Good luck, some oil leaks can be really "good fun" to trace but if you clean it up well and then regularly monitor this one I think you should find it quite easily - at least you don't have to crawl around underneath to see it!
 
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Thank you for the reply. Yeah I think you may be right because the oil is quite evenly spread out along the gasket. I didn't apply any extra sealant on the corners so what I might do is replace the gasket with a new one and apply some sealant and clean everything before I start messing with the distributor.

I'm not very comfortable with ignition timing and such things so the less I can mess with the distributor the better :)
 
What you need is "Wellseal", Its a old school sealant used by Rolls Royce and Ferrari and many other manufactures

Its a bit messy to use but far superior to modern silicon sealants

Dave
 
What you need is "Wellseal", Its a old school sealant used by Rolls Royce and Ferrari and many other manufactures

Its a bit messy to use but far superior to modern silicon sealants

Dave
Just looked this up as it, very quietly, rang a bell in my mind: https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-206875-stag-wellseal-jointing-compound.aspx

Then I saw the "STAG" and I suddenly remembered where the "bell ringing" was coming from:

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Bought around 40 years ago I'd guess and has moved house twice with me. No idea what I used it on but back in those days I was always messing about with old British motor bikes. Certainly not had the tops off since we moved here - which was around 35 years ago - so probably solid in the tins. I'm going to take the tops off later just for a look see, but right now I'm off for a daily walk with Mrs J.
 
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