vintagelex

So of course, as soon as you fix one leak, another one appears... this time it seems to be a camshaft seal, but I'm not certain. The top part is not leaking (new valve cover gasket) but the bottom part is (sorry for the terrible pictures). I would think it's a camshaft seal but online and in the FSM I only see camshaft seals mentioned on the side of the engine where the timing belt is (those were changed with the timing belt a year ago thankfully). So what is it this time? Anyone have an idea?

LeX2K

I guess technically that is a camshaft seal. But it's just a plastic plug put in place to seal the hole that I believe was used for machining the cylinder head at the factory (the cam bearing surfaces I think). The proper way is to remove the valve cover, punch out the plug and clean up the surfaces, and re-seal. But I've had success just cleaning up the outside and sealing it with RTV. I did that on an engine about 3 years ago and no leaks so far.

BTW you should put back the heat shield on the exhaust manifold, otherwise stuff around eventually gets cooked.

vintagelex

That seems like it's worth a try to just clean and seal it up - I'll definitely try that and see if it helps. And yeah they cut the shield off when the y-pipe was replaced, but I have a new one from the junkyard I just have to put it on when I have the time.