Rear camshaft seal popped out of its seat, oil all over

[Karsten]

On the way back home from work today I semelled the funny smell of burned oil. Being in stop & go traffic I suspected the old Yota in front of me burning oil, but as I left town and went on my way on the Autobahn the smell was still there and all of a sudden I could see smoke coming of the back of my car. As I stopped and checked under hood I saw the round seal on the rear of the cam had popped completely out of its seat and the oil spilled out there through the whole engine compartment. I managed to squeeze it back, fill up a quart and a half of oil and drove home.
Is this a common problem ? Pressure building up in the crankcase ? I had the turbo rarely producing boost, mostly in vac or 0 boost.
'89 2.5t Shadow, bone stock that is.

[ILIKESHELBYS]

It does happen often enough that most of us have heard of this happening. The best way to repair that is to get a new seal/cap and install it using some loctite...not RTV. You should remove the valve cover, loosen the rear cam cap a few turns of the bolt, apply sealer to the rim of the seal/cap, insert and clamp it down to the proper torque.

This condition is sometimes a preamble to excessive blow by, often csaused by worn rings or maybe a broken piston/ring combo. Also confirm the PCV valve is actually working, not just that one is present...they stop up.

[Karsten]

The rings should be ok with just 100k mls on them. I'll check the PCV valve and get a new seal as you suggested, though

[TurboDodge]

-Not discrediting ILIKESHELBYS response about using Loctite, just my 2 cents- I have never used the Loctite 518 method. If this issue has ever occurred with my vehicles or friends vehicles, the fix we have always used is install new seal and line the lip of the new seal with Permatex ultra grey RTV. That stuff holds well and there is no need to pull the valve cover and loosen the cam.

[ILIKESHELBYS]

"The rings should be ok with just 100k mls on them."

ROFLOL....and my engine has less than 3,000 miles on it and because I broke a ring with a less than durable vacuum line setup, she ran lean for just a split second at high boost....that was all it took. #1 cyl now has like 50lbs of pressure with the rest at 120 +/-.

My point is that mileage has little or nothing to do with current condition.

Good luck, I'll suggest a compression test (w/o oil in cyl first) then add oil to each cyl to help it seal and try again. If the numbers increase quite a bit you have a ring/piston clearance issue.

[NAJ]

I am going to disagree with both of you on installation, not necessarily the reason the cam seal blew out but if OE I would go with age.
First..according to the FSM both cam seals need to be removed to properly install and torque the Cam.
When installing the rear cam seal or ANY seal you want to use a "Non-Hardening" sealer on the outer surface such as Permatex #2 or Permatax Aviation Cement, it will seal any imperfections between the seal and mating surface.

When my Rear Cam Seal blew out on my way to work(OE, seal was 17 years old, No Blowby, No PCV issues) I cleaned the area with Brake Cleaner(Fast Drying, No Residue)applied Permatex #2 and tapped the Rear Cam Seal in, that was 6 years ago.

Gasket Sealants : Permatex® Form-A-Gasket® No. 2 Sealant

Gasket Sealants : Permatex® Aviation Form-A-Gasket® No. 3 Sealant Liquid

More Information for DNJ ENGINE COMPONENTS CS145D

[TurboDodge]

I always torque the cam before installing the seals. No need to disturb the valve cover or cam when replacing seals. The sealant used, if any, for the seal installation can be personal preference whether it is the FSM listed sealant(never a bad choice), or other(just don't use super glue people or other completely ridiculous chemicals). On the front cam seal, I don't use any RTV, just line the lip with a light coat of motor oil. For me, my method is tried and true. I have installed dozens of rear cam seals with ultra grey RTV, on rebuilt engines or high mileage engines. It keeps them in place and the old RTV is easy to clean off the next time you must perform a service that requires removal/install of that rear seal/cap. I suppose I could start buying Permatex #2 or Permatex Aviation Cement and those would work excellent. I just always keep ultra grey around my shop and I have never had a problem using it for this application. There are a couple different ways that you can do this and each method will work. Simple operation.

[turbovanman]

Anerobic sealer, clean the area with brake cleaner, tap in place, done.

[ILIKESHELBYS]

"Anerobic sealer, clean the area with brake cleaner, tap in place, done."

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