cam cover leak

[eunos-r]

im hoping someone here can help me out as i am very close to just burning the dam car. since i got the head done on my 1.8 mk1 the cam cover keeps leaking, it got a new cam cover gasket when the head was done and it started leaking the same day i collected it from the mechanic, so i got another new gasket and a cas o ring, replaced both and put a bit of instant gasket in the corners as suggested, but made no difference. so i put it down to the fact that maybe the after market cam cover gasket wasnt any good so i ordered a genuine mazda cam cover and cas o ring (ridiculous prices) and i changed them all over again and again with the instant gasket in the corners. it is still leaking ???

[eunos-r]

just to add i tightened the cam cover bolts in the correct order to the correct torque setting

[Merlot man]

The geniune gasket is the only one most people recommend so that's a good first move , the correct torque setting is something like 9 n/m which is very light so i simply tighten them by hand using a screwdriver type socket driver , no ratchet working from the centre out , do this sequence 3 times as the cover moves down to bed in , DONT over tighten as it creates hills and valleys . If you must use silicone do it very sparingly as the excess goes down the oil galleries !
After that I'm lost .
As you got the head done I wonder if it got warped in the process ?
Best of luck with it and keep us informed
Brian

[sidewaysreilly]

where exactly is it leaking

[Real Rayzor]

Any chance there is some old gasket still on the head.??

[eunos-r]

thanx merlot, im waiting on valve stem seals to arrive so ill get another gasket in the mean time and try again. might also try check the surface with a steel rule to rule out the possibility of it being warped.

@sideways, it starts down the back of the engine by the cas and works up along the side above the exhaust manifold, never seems to leak on the inlet manifold side, going to pop out the cas again when im doing the stem seals and make sure the o ring hasnt been pinched or something.

@rayzor, no definitely no old gasket left on it, i made sure to have the surface 100% clean the last time i replaced it.

[sidewaysreilly]

are you taking the CAS cap off? Is the CAS itself leaking ?