I am driving around with a leaking o/s valve cover gasket while waiting for parts to arrive. Left the car unused for two weeks and quite a bit of oil must have accumulated on the exhaust manifold, so much so that a lot of smoke billowed under the car and through the bonnet vents when idling in traffic. Is there a danger of a fire from this? Have watched too many engines catching fire in F1, so a bit worried. BTW, I am using Mobil 1. Thanks for any advice.

mine does it and so does my m8 dont worry about ti just get it sorted, mine been like it for months

i just jet hosed all the oil offa the manifold

teddyliller, thanks, like they say, they all do it. At least my car has aircon, otherwise, the smell is pretty horrid.

same is happening here, but booked in for tommorrow in Prague, so we'll see how good are czech hands. But the smoke coming out the bonet while waiting for green is BIG :D

VC, hope you have better luck with the gasket parts in Prague than I am here, still waiting for the slow ship to arrive from Japan after almost one month, and this from the main franchise dealer for the country.

"one month, and this from the main franchise dealer "
think you should be looking els where


garry

I've had this problem too.

Just changing the gasket may not be enough. Wasn't for me.

There are 4 plastic semicircular bits that fit in this area and I had to change these as well to stop the leak.

If you use the old ones, take them out, clean them and reseat them before fitting the new gasket.

Cheers

Rich

The problem with the parts supply is that the Scoob is not a very popular car in this country, unlike UK. There are maybe a total of 40 units of the old shape and an equal number of the newer ones officially imported, (minimum of 180% import duties didn't help either), so nobody else other than the franchise dealer handles the spares and then, only the bare minimum is carried on hand. To not even carry brake pads and rocker cover gaskets is a bit ridiculous, but their main agency is Audi and this keeps them going quite nicely.

I am ordering the full set of gaskets, including the studs and spark plug seals, so they are going to be changed all at once.

The gaskets arrived finally and got them fitted at the workshop, the cover, spark plug and bolt gaskets all, and it is still leaking. What could have gone wrong? The mechanic applied 'three bond' gasket sealant to the top side of the gasket, which according to some of the threads here, is the correct way. Taking the car in again tomorrow to have another look.

Mail order from Graham Goode racing. They usually carry good stocks, and if you are preepared to pay for carriage, no reason why most parts of the world can have 24/48 hr delivery. I would say to leave the half moon seals in place if they are ok. It is also important to replace the rubber seals under the bolts, as I reckon these are actually the main casue of leaks, due to losing clamping ability through age. I would even replace thes eto try, before replacing the gakets. Its much easier, and if it works, happy days.
Did you machanic change the rubber washers under the bolts?? You say he put sealer on the top side? The sealer should go on the bottom section of the gasket, as that is where the oil will accumulate. It should also be left to dry, before allowing any oil near it if possible. It should really seal, with no sealer anyway.


[Edited by ustolemyname??stevieturbo - 7/28/2002 8:31:57 PM]

Did you replace the bolt seals with new ones, the gasket itself is not theonly thing that can cause a leak.

bob

All the gaskets were changed, including the 2 covering the spark plug and the 6 under the bolts. The sealant was put on top of the gasket, but I didn't see whether it was also applied to the bottom as well. Took the car back to the garage, took out the heat shield under the exhaust manifold and it was dry, unlike before the repair, where oil was definitely collecting, but it was wet with oil on the outside. The underside has been washed after the repair, so this is new oil leak from somewhere, but not the rocker cover. The garage suggest I book it in one day and let them do a thorough examination as they are baffled. Could it be the camshaft oil seal this time? While changing the gasket, it was found that the inner draft shaft boot was broken and as usual, the dealer is out of stock of the item. Really pissed with them. As suggested, going to try sourcing from overseas, as I am not going to risk driving for a month with a broken bot and risk knackering the drive shaft.