God I hate to ask but.....EA82 oil leak

[CrankyAl]

I have a 90 Loyale that I am changing a broken timing belt. I have new cam seals also. I have been looking at the oil leaks from the valve covers and I am replacing those also......Question... can a head gasket leak oil around the top of the engine? Some of the oil leaking seems to be coming from the topside of the head. Can this happen before she lets go?

Edited February 15, 2013 by CrankyAl

[MilesFox]

That would be the seam where thea cam tower meets the head. It would be wise to remove the cam tower and re-seal it, along with its o-ring. Here is a video. IT is not common for the older subarus to leak oil at the head gasket. But it is easy to confuse the cam tower for the head, as the whole head is 2 pieces if you count the cam tower. By answering this question, that makes me GOD.

 

[CrankyAl]

Sir God Miles,  Nice ring to it eh?

 

  Geeze, I don't know what I was thinking!! OK I wasn't thinking or being very observant. I comepletely

bone brained that!! Thank you very much for your answer and video. Much appreciated.

[Gloyale]

They can leak from the head gasket too. Usually in the bottom where the oil passages are. I've seen a few that leak a steady stream at that seal, so bad you can't drive it.

 

But I would reseal the oilpump, cams seals, crank seal, valve covers, and cam case orings.

[MilesFox]

They can leak from the head gasket too. Usually in the bottom where the oil passages are. I've seen a few that leak a steady stream at that seal, so bad you can't drive it.

 

But I would reseal the oilpump, cams seals, crank seal, valve covers, and cam case orings.

 

There is an o-ring on the head gasket that is relative to position of the o-ring on the cam tower. I have never seen HG's leak on these ea82's, but there was one instance where i have seen a cam tower o-ring blown out entirely that there was a steady stream of oil pouring out as the engine was running. this was an extreme case. I would be more concerned about anything dripping from the bottom more so than from the top.

[scoobiedubie]

That would be the seam where thea cam tower meets the head. It would be wise to remove the cam tower and re-seal it, along with its o-ring. Here is a video. IT is not common for the older subarus to leak oil at the head gasket. But it is easy to confuse the cam tower for the head, as the whole head is 2 pieces if you count the cam tower. By answering this question, that makes me GOD.

 

The video only made four huge mistakes.

1st mistake:  He failed to run an instrument into the camtower groove, when placing the Permatex Ultra-Gray, in order to push sealer into the groove and get the air bubbles out.  He then failed to run his finger over the Ultra-Gray, in order to also help fill up the groove.

2nd mistake:  He used a standard low temperature O-ring and not a Subaru rubber coated metal O-ring.  Standard temp O-rings melt and deform, and screw up your lifter lubrication.

3rd mistake:  He used the Ultra-Gray to hold the O-ring in place when he should have used grease.  Grease dissolves and can pass through the tiny oil lube holes that lube the lifters, bearings and rocker arms.  The Ulta-Gray gets hard, brittle and can clog up the tiny holes. 

4th mistake:  He failed to lightly coat the two interior flat surfaces that contact the cylinder head, that are part of the oil lubrication channels that maintain lubrication oil to the camshaft bearing area, rocker arm contact surfaces, and hydraulic lifters.

 

You could probably hear that Subaru coming from 2 blocks away.

[MilesFox]

The video only made four huge mistakes.

1st mistake:  He failed to run an instrument into the camtower groove, when placing the Permatex Ultra-Gray, in order to push sealer into the groove and get the air bubbles out.  He then failed to run his finger over the Ultra-Gray, in order to also help fill up the groove.

2nd mistake:  He used a standard low temperature O-ring and not a Subaru rubber coated metal O-ring.  Standard temp O-rings melt and deform, and screw up your lifter lubrication.

3rd mistake:  He used the Ultra-Gray to hold the O-ring in place when he should have used grease.  Grease dissolves and can pass through the tiny oil lube holes that lube the lifters, bearings and rocker arms.  The Ulta-Gray gets hard, brittle and can clog up the tiny holes. 

4th mistake:  He failed to lightly coat the two interior flat surfaces that contact the cylinder head, that are part of the oil lubrication channels that maintain lubrication oil to the camshaft bearing area, rocker arm contact surfaces, and hydraulic lifters.

 

You could probably hear that Subaru coming from 2 blocks away.

1.This video was for demonstration purposes

2. The o-ring was the one there on the bench, provided by the guy who commissioned the work

3. The original tape was taped over, so this is an edit of 2 different sessions.

4. It does not leak or tick. The dab of ultra grey on the o-ring was on the outer edge.

 

Thanks for watching.

 

If you subscribe, you will get to see more videos involving ej22, headgaskets, and building it up as a frankemotor with  2.5 block with rusty cylinders. Please be critical to those videos when you get to see them, so that i can reply the car in the demonstration does delivery driving all day long and does not smoke.

 

Let's see your cam tower video, thanx

 

Sorry, don't want to be rude. The videos reflect the spirit of backyard auto repair since a lot of us with subarus are cheap or just hobbyists. This is easy for the everyday person to comprehend. It is up to them to decide on the grade of parts they want to use. At least i had a torque wrench to use in this video. The ea82 is something you can literally build in a 5 gallon bucket, put on parts backwards and it will still run.

 

I'm sure you have been working on subarus since they were new in the 80's. Maybe you had dealership training. I have put enough of these things together in the least of ideal situations, but alas, all of the work has proven to be reliable. I would like to produce a better video, but the idea of the video video came with the need of doing the work, rather than doing the work for the sake of a video.

 

Your points are valid, though. But what is demonstrated in the video does work, and nothing was ruined from doing so. If you saw the rest of the car this engine went into, you would be more worried about everything else.

 

Putting oil on the 2 flat spots is something i have never thought of. Good idea. I suppose i can update the video with annotations to mention what you are pointing out.

 

This video only exists out of a lack of one already being there to go look up.

Edited February 17, 2013 by MilesFox