Camshaft Seal - what can go wrong?

[mrdance123]

After a recent head gasket job, the camshaft seal was leaking a little bit.
Small puddle drips outlining the front of the engine.

Replaced the camshaft seal again, and it leaked a puddle of oil 2 feet wide,
after being driven and parked.
The slotted side of the seal goes inward toward engine, right?

The manual says coat the inside of seal with MP grease,
and use a liquid sealant around the outer edge of seal.
What product do you guys use here?

[mrdance123]

Can the camshaft seal be replaced through the timing belt cover, removing the cam sprocket,
without removing the camshaft from above?

[marlinh]

Yes the cam seal is usually replaced by removing the timing belt and sprocket. Have a read through this post:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9267&p=76170&hilit=cam+seal#p76170

Silicone sealant for the outside lip of the seal. Are you sure the seal is installed square? That seems like a lot of oil, unless the seal popped out. The valve cover gasket can leak oil as well. Is it new?

I would remove the upper timing cover, clean the engine really well and observe where the oil in coming from. Try not to get oil or solvents on the timing belt.

[xirdneh]

After seal removal run finger around opening to feel for irregularities, maybe it was removed uncarefully with screwdriver and got gouged. If so smooth it out.

[mrdance123]

I had installed a brand new camshaft seal, twice.
First with the head gasket, and again the second time.

After 12 hours sitting un-driven, it has dripped several more drips in 10 minutes,
adding to the 2 foot wide puddle. I placed cardboard under to see this.
It is not the drain plug leaking,
the only thing I know of could continue leaking with non running engine.

During my third attempt at seal replacement,
I'm going to remove the splash guard, maybe it's oil pooled up on that,
causing continued dripping after 12 hours.

[helipilot77]

Mine was leaking in a similar manner but it ended up being the main crankshaft seal at the oil pump. Once I replaced it the leaking stopped. You could be having the same problem. It would be hard to detect because the timing cover conceals it.

[4doorVIP]

I had a similar issue when using non-OEM seals, I Would recommend purchasing a new OEM seal from Toyota and retrying with some RTV. From my memory I pushed the seal on using a piece of PVC piping evenly.

[Petros]

I do not think the upper cam seal would leak much if the engine is not running, there should not be any oil pooled up behind it. the lower front main seal can do that, and a few other places lower down. The cam seal will leak a lot when it is running, if the seal is bad. And the only place where there is a lot of oil that will leak out with out the engine running is the oil pan. And the leak would have to be below the oil level of the sump. Possible (but unlikely) something punctured the pan, or the oil drain plug is leaking (try putting sealant on the drain plug).

Other wise, as instructed above, clean off the engine and than get a good look at the source of the oil.

[mrdance123]

Third time might be the charm...
The cam seal had popped out making 2 foot wide puddle of oil while parked overnight.
As I tightened the cam cap on top of the third new oil seal,
the pressure applied made seal pop out towards the sprocket, this time I saw it happen.
So I reapplied some fresh silicone gasket maker goo,
helped it set faster with a hair dryer while the cam cap was still loose,
then slowly tightened cam cap after a half hour of dryer heat.
Now I have oil drip puddle only an inch wide parked overnight,
source unknown could be the main pully oil pump seal.
Still worry that it might pop out again if engine heat makes the gasket goo melt.

[xirdneh]

i have done a lot cam seals and have never had one pop out whether installing with or without gasket compound
something fishy there

[marlinh]

You do not install the seal by loosening the cam cap. The cap should be installed and torqued to specs, with a dab of sealant applied to the edges according to FSM. The seal is then pressed into place. I see that the manual tells you to install the cap over the seal, but in my experience that does not work. Try it this way, you should be fine.

[Petros]

You have high crank case pressure that causes the seal to pop out. You need to address it, I had a corolla all-track that kept blowing out seals, cam, front main, and rear main, it had 380k miles and I took a compression test, very low compression. I had to rering it to stop the problem. You risk having all of the seals pop out, the worst would be the rear main since it is a big job to get to it, you have to pull the trans, clutch and flywheel to replace it.

But before you rebuild it, check the PVC valve for being gummed up (cheap to replace, but can usually be soaked in solvet to free it up). check your engine compression, you can rent a pressure gauge from Autozone for free to test it.

So make sure crank case vent system is working properly, add "Restore" or STP to crankcase to help seal the rings, perhasp give it a Seafoam treatment, also may help seal the rings, and if still worried pull your dip stick to allow the pressure to vent out the dip stick tube. Watch for excessive oil spray.

[marlinh]

Hey mrdance, did you ever fix this problem?