So that's why there's a burning oil smell...

[pharriso]

There's been a smell of burning oil when I drive my car, popped the cam cover off & discovered why:

The half moons are pretty swollen & will not fit back in their cam bores properly, so I will have to wait for replacements before re-assembling.

Best practice suggests RTV on the halfmoons & Wellseal on the cam cover gasket.

Should I use plain washers in between the Semloc washers & the nylocs?

[peterako]

That's what I do (plain washer between nut and the rubber washers).

RTV on the halfmoons too.

Also, I made up a gasked using RTV (rather than the cork + RTV) ages ago and it's been reused a number of times with no leaking....

It's attached to the cover.

I made it by putting a continious bead of RTV on the cover face, letting it form a nice skin, then smearing the head face with oil I let the cover sit on the head overnight to form.

Tighen up the next day and there you have it.....

Best of luck,
Peter

[elanner]

I notice that Ray at RD Ent has a fancy new cam cover gasket for $22 that would be good to hear some reviews of. It looks neat. I fitted one of his rubberized cork ones earlier this year and it's fine.

I ordered some Seloc washers from a UK source but when they arrived they clearly weren't Seloc (it was possible to fold them in half), so I temporarily used some Viton washers that are good to withstand oil and high temperature (with a plain washer on top of them). They are oil tight but have squeezed out quite a bit. I subsequently purchased some real Seloc washers from another UK source and will get around to fitting them soon.....

Nick

[JJDraper]

About 6 years ago I had problems with a set of cam bore plugs swelling up - I hadn't used any oil additives, and the replacements haven't been affected - Shrug...

Must be some dodgy manufacturers out there...

Jeremy

[john.p.clegg]

I had the same problem with the oil drain tube...looked like a bloated banana when I removed it...dodgy rubber

John

[gjz30075]

Phil, I sourced my half moon plugs from VW. They have flanges on either side so sealing is better, or so I have experienced. They're used on early Rabbits (US) and the local VW dealer was able to scrounge some up in his parts department. A local foreign auto parts store also had them.

Greg Z

[Quart Meg Miles]

The moral is: reuse the original half-moons. I haven't fitted a new one for thirty years, can't see the point as they are only replacing the solid aluminium removed for boring the cam bearings.