Technical Help. Multijet, Cam chain cover oil leak. Is it easy to remove the cover?

[MountainRunner]

Hi
My car is a 2007 fiat panda 1.3 diesel multijet. I’ve had a slight intermittent oil leak from the bottom of the cam chain cover for many years but not enough to cause any noticeable oil loss. It was worse when I got the car but the last few years I’ve hardly noticed it. Recently I’m seeing several fresh drops of oil after driving.
I’m wondering how easy it is to drain the oil and remove the cam chain cover, clean it up and reseal it? Has anyone removed the cover without changing the chain? I know the engine mount is close by, did you have to remove the mount?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[koalar]

I can't help much

But here's Fiat take

Home Page

aftersales.fiat.com

@irc has a lot more experience of these engines than me

 

[koalar]

I was hoping someone that been here before would chime in

If it's from the front crankshaft seal it's probably much easier to change, if it's from here it will run down the back of the pulley and be thrown around a bit

The 1.3 is quite rare in the Panda but is quite common in other vauxhall and fiat cars

The corsa cdti uses the identical engine for example

 

[DaveMcT]

I’m in the closing stages of swapping my cylinder head (I screwed up on the original).
The timing cover aka oil pump is an integral unit. Changing the oil seal will need a new crank pulley drive flange/sleeve, new oil seal and new LH thread centre bolt.
I suggest giving it a thorough clean to see exactly what is leaking. If the gasket has failed (unlikely) you’ll have to remove the dump pan before you can remove the chain cover/oil pump. The oil pick-up tube gets in the way.
If you are going that far - seriously (VERY) seriously consider replacing the cam chain kit. Parts cost won’t be much higher.
Unfortunately it’s really not a basic DIY job. I had the chain parts on and off three times before I found the sequence that works.
My cylinder head fix would have been 10x easier with the engine-box lump out of the car. It is a bit more obvious work but it removes the horrendous access issues that plague Panda with this engine.

 

[MountainRunner]

I had another look under it and the leak appears to be on the nearside of the sump pan, it could be running down onto there from the timing cover, but I’m just hoping it’s the sump pan which should be easy to remove and re-seal during oil change. Will have another look tomorrow. Thanks.