Hi Everyone,

Just noticed we have a small leak in the cam cover on the 2003 XKR. Unfortunately, the small leak is on the drivers side near the outside bolt closest to the firewall. I recently replaced both valve cover gaskets in March and I noticed that that particular bolt seemed to be stripped a bit as it was not torquing properly so I suspect the failure is related to that. The bolt looked fine to me so I suspect it has something to do with the hole that it screws into.

Wondering what you guys would recommend I do if this is the case. I figured I would give it a shot on my own and if there are any issues then I would bring it in to my mechanic. Is there something you could insert into the hole that would make the bolt grab better? I am concerned about the tightness of the space, it was really difficult to access when I did the job the first time. Also, when I first did this job I encountered issues and ended up taking it to the mechanic anyway for them to redo the job so I am not 100% sure how they went about replacing the gaskets.

Any advice is greatly appreciated and thank you all again for your invaluable advice and help.

Thanks!

Corey

 

Unusual to strip one of those bolt holes as the torque spec is barely more than finger tight! If it's too far gone, a helicoil insert is going to be the most suitable repair method although drilling in that location will be a challenge.

Clean it off to be able to check exactly where the oil is leaking. Cam cover leaks are usually only failed gaskets but I've seen examples of the covers having hairline cracks running from the bolt holes if they've been over tightened.

Hairline cracks are almost impossible to see with the cover off as they close up and only open slightly as it is bolted down.

Graham

 

I have used the helicoil but what I have found that is a better thread repair is a Time Sert. They are not a readily available as helicoil but in my opinion a better repair. You would need to do an internet search to find a supplier.

 

I would imagine that it would be hard to strip it unless you were to cross thread it. I remember it being difficult to get the bolt started properly. It kept wanting to drift from a perpendicular angle and I thought to myself that someone must have been careless putting the bolt in at some point.

Will check for a hairline crack and it is very difficult to see exactly where it is leaking due to the location but perhaps with a mirror we can get a better glimpse.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check this out. Do you know if one would be able to utilize this set in such a tight spot or would you have to remove the head to fix the bolt hole?

 

The Time Sert looks much more robust than Helicoil. I see they are manufactured by Wurth and there is a UK distributor.

Filed that information away for use in a future disaster.

Graham

 

I'm not sure how much room you have. I have attached a link to video showing how they are installed.

 

Prior to using drills and attempting a thread repair, use a tap to gently 'chase' the threads and see if that fixes the problem. You can try running the bolt into the hole with the cam cover removed to see if it can tighten.

 

+1. Good idea.

 

Great, thank you for the idea. I am definitely going to go this route first and hopefully we can salvage the bolt. Not looking forward to this job as it seemed near impossible to get the cam cover back on smoothly after I cleaned and installed the new gasket but hopefully things will go better this time around!

Thanks,

Corey

 

Corey, I'm going to catch hell about this, but here goes.
Do the chase the threads thing and clean it up. As this is a low torque bolt, snugging it down should compress the gasket enough to keep that leak from happening.
Here is what you do, check the depth of the hole, get a piece of kitchen aluminum foil about a 1/2 inch wide double over to 1/4 inch with one side the depth of the hole, the other side a little longer to lap it over the hole, insert in hole and now the bolt. That should get you a snug fit, don't get excited with the racket, it will hold.
If it was something you were taking about at each service, not a good idea, but should work for this.

 

A bit like a Rawlplug, I guess and,being soft, shouldn't make things any worse.

The objective with these bolts is just to nip the 'bobbins' to the cylinder head, so they don't need to be much more than finger tight: the compression force to the cam cover gasket is provided by the rubber isolator washers (NCA2575CA). Passing on a recommendation to me from AddictedToBoost to replace these as part of the job for that reason. They are stupid money at around $2 each (you need 14 per side), But it worked for me even though I re-used the original cam cover gasket.

Good luck!