Replacing camshaft seals

[mitmaks]

Do I have to remove camshafts to replace seals?

[marcdh]

Nope just remove timing belt and pulleys.

[davmac]

I assume you're replacing camshaft seals because of oil leaks. While you're in there you might want to remove and seal the front camshaft cap to the engine head. The front camshaft caps are just behind the timing pulleys as seen in this link.

It is nearly impossible to tell if the camshaft seals or the seal between the cylinder head and camshaft cap is leaking. The only way I could get mine to be dry was to use a very thin coat of rtv between the front cap and head. I then tightened the cap to spec and drove the seal in with a hammer and piece of pipe.

[marcdh]

Another tip use the old seal as a tool to press in the new one. Avoids damage to new seals.

[mitmaks]

I assume you're replacing camshaft seals because of oil leaks. While you're in there you might want to remove and seal the front camshaft cap to the engine head. The front camshaft caps are just behind the timing pulleys as seen in this link.

It is nearly impossible to tell if the camshaft seals or the seal between the cylinder head and camshaft cap is leaking. The only way I could get mine to be dry was to use a very thin coat of rtv between the front cap and head. I then tightened the cap to spec and drove the seal in with a hammer and piece of pipe.

I think camshaft cap is leaking, is there seal that goes there or just RTV it real good?

[Daninski]

I thought Ryan did a write up on this to help simplify things.

[davmac]

I think camshaft cap is leaking, is there seal that goes there or just RTV it real good?

The 2 camshaft caps at the front of the engine and the one at the rear left (where the distributor is driven) need a thin coat of RTV between the cap and the cylinder head. The other camshaft caps are just torqued down metal to metal. The service manual is actually pretty clear about this. Unfortunately I had to learn by replacing front camshaft seals and distributor shaft o-ring twice.

Oh - if I misread and you're talking about the blind camshaft caps next to the camshaft seals, then those too should get a thin coat of RTV before being pressed in.