Cam Plate Leak Repair

[Extreme86]

My BRZ, manufactured in June 2012, has somewhere north of 16.5K miles on it and a couple of weeks ago I began smelling faint wisps of burnt motor oil. I knew about the leaking cam plate issue but, had no idea where it was on the engine until a fellow BRZ owner pointed it out to me at Cars & Coffee last Saturday.

Sure enough, a visual indicated I had a leak there. Then, I did some research and came across these two threads:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26197
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45097

Many folks with this problem will likely take their car into the dealer as this should be covered under the warranty. I am a DIY kind of person and chose not to deal with a dealer on this one.

I wanted to use Three Bond 1184 FIPG type sealant for the fix but, could not find it locally. Opted for Permatex Ultra Grey easily obtainable at your local Auto parts store or Wally World. There was mention of a side plate leak so I got an inspection mirror out to see if I could determine if that was the case.

IMO the leak occurred because there was not enough sealant between the two surfaces plate/engine. I’m not gonna go in to great detail of how to clean parts or remove old sealant. Nor will I go into detail of what tools are needed for the repairs. Follow the instructions on the brand of sealant you end up using.

The following is the procedure/technique I used to successfully stop my car from leaking oil at the cam plate:

Inspect underside of cam plate area to determine if the "side plate" gasket is not leaking. If no leak is observed, remove the 3 bolts that attach the cam plate to the engine. If possible, let the engine sit overnight before removing the cam plate as will eliminate any possibility of oil flowing down and out of the area you will be cleaning and applying new sealer.



Place some old rags or other absorbent material under to the cam plate area to catch any motor oil that may flow out. Carefully pry the cam plate loose from the engine and remove.



A leaking cam plate cover should look something like this when removed. Note that there was very little sealant material towards the bottom of the hole.


Darkened area appears to be the spot that was leaking or that may be the seam where the side plate seal is located.

Remove the old sealant and prep the cover for re-installation. All old residue should be removed and a final cleaning with alcohol is a good idea. Again, follow the recommendations by the manufacturer of the new sealant.

Prep the camshaft flange opening by removing old sealant material as well.

Because there is little room for sealant material between the two surfaces, I attached two wooden sticks with some masking tape to act as shims to allow some of the sealant to "set up" a bit before torquing the bolts to specs. Make sure you locate the sticks in a spot that will not interfere with the area receiving the sealant. The sticks will be removed later on.

Apply a 1/4" bead of sealant to the prepped camshaft opening on the engine. Carefully start the top bolt in to the threads. Try not to let the cover touch the sealant until you get the bottom two bolts started.


Gently finger tighten all three bolts evenly and snugged up to both wooden sticks at top and bottom. The instructions on the Permatex Ultra Grey sealant package said to let this sit for one hour...I let it sit for two hours.

Remove the masking tape and slide out the wooden sticks carefully as to not disturb the seal. You may need to loosen the bolts slightly. At this point you may wish to tighten all three bolts by a half turn and allow the sealant to cure some more or go ahead and tighten all three bolts to spec. (Approx. 12 ft. pounds). I went ahead and torqued the bolts at this point and let the car sit for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, took a test drive for about 5 miles allowing engine to warm up to operating temperature and did some up hill streets and spirited turns in both directions. Did not smell any burning motor oil. After engine cooled I took some paper towels and wiped under the camshaft plate area and observed no freshly leaked oil.


1/21/13 ADDENDUM – IMPORTANT Update to Original Post! In my initial fix, I let the sealer cure for 2 hours before I removed the sticks and tightened up the plate to specs. This “fix” worked for awhile but we had some freezing temps a few weeks back and I left my car outside one night and then drove it on a freezing morning. I believe this is when it developed another slow leak.

Upon removal of plate, I noticed, as was the original factory install, there was very little gasket material between the two metal surfaces and it was obvious the 2 hour set-up time before tightening was not enough.
Also, the Permatex Ultra Grey seems to be a harder, less rubbery gasket material which is opposite of what this application needs with two dis-similar metals with likely different rates of expansion.

So, redid the fix – again using the 1/16” sticks as a “stop” to let the gasket material set-up at that thickness before final torque to specs. I used a softer high-temp red silicone RTV – cheap stuff from harbor freight I had on hand in a new tube. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-oz-rtv-silicone-red-90026.html

I let this sit for 36 hours to set-up/totally cure with the spacer sticks in place and then removed sticks and tightened to specs. So far, no leak one week later. I believe this left enough stuff in there to properly seal. But, who knows for sure??? I will update this post if anything changes in the upcoming weeks / months.

Recommendations:
1. If you DIY….Do not use Permatex Ultra Grey sealant – it will eventually fail.
2. If you like your dealer, take it in for warranty repair….but, you may have to return a couple of times before they actually fix this problem! See posts by Jimbobrand - he’s in my town and has had numerous visits getting the leak repaired and then the dealership finally damaging a fender in the process. This is why I decided to DIY.
3. IMO. Proper rubbery sealant is the key along with a technique that insures some time for set-up because if the sealer is still wet when the bolts are tightened, it will just squish out and result in a very thin layer of sealant and leak again in short order.
4. Buy the Raceseng cam plate and fix it right if you don’t want to potentially hassle with multiple trial and error “pooky” repairs!

Good Luck!!

[mfbmike]

Extreme.

[Xero-Limit]

Don't forget that these trick Raceseng plates are available still, they use an o-ring design and are a more permanent fix.

http://www.moto-east.com/store/raceseng-camplate.html

[Extreme86]

Originally Posted by moto-mike

Don't forget that these trick Raceseng plates are available still, they use an o-ring design and are a more permanent fix.

Thanks. Definitely the route I will take if this starts to leak again...and, I suspect it will with time. I guess I've bought a little more time to see if there will be some additional aftermarket o-ring plates developed to spark some competitive pricing. $85.25 shipped seems a bit steep. Sure wish I would have gotten in on the initial Raceseng $60 group buy...would easily pull the trigger to get one at that price.

[Chee-Hu]

^^ Well said. If the price was a little lower, I'm almost certain more people would not hesitate to buy. I'm in the fence as well, but just can't swallow that much for such a simple part. (yeah, yeah, i'm well aware of r&d and parts blah blah blah)

[xxscaxx]

Dude.. It's 75 bucks.. Lol

[BunnyRZed]

Nice write up with great details. Doesn't make sense to waste $75 for the Raceseng cam plate. Just take it into the dealership since you're still covered under warranty.

[texasbound972]

^^^^ That's what I did. Actually went in because I noticed my coolant was below the low line. Took it to the dealership since they are right down the road from me and that's when they found my leak.

[kiichiro]

The way you did that, not right, likely to fail. Just saying. There's way too much clearance with those Popsicle sticks

[Extreme86]

Originally Posted by kiichiro

The way you did that, not right, likely to fail. Just saying. There's way too much clearance with those Popsicle sticks

@kiichiro Thanks! You are on the mark with your “fail” prediction but not for the reason stated. Popsicle stick thickness is about 1/16”. Problem with this plate design is that the way it is engineered there is practically zero allowance/clearance for any thickness of sealant between the surfaces of the plate and engine. See my 1/21/14 Addendum to the OP regarding a second attempt. I understand your logic, totally! It's a shame they didn't just design a nice rubber gasket for this plate.

@Chee-Hu @xxscaxx @BunnyRZed Yeah, the Raceseng plate @ $75 plus shipping ... it's beginning to look like a bargain right about now! But, I'm stubborn and always up for a challenge. If my "finger check" comes out oily next time, might have to pull the trigger on that purty little o-ring plate with the fancy engraved lettering that no one will ever see!!!

[mx5 2nr]

Extreme86, thanks for posting your write up, my leak was a little worse than yours. I went ahead and purchased the Raceseng Plate, but your pics/explaination were a helpful contribution to the Raceseng instructions. BTW - the Raceseng plate is a nice quality piece, it's $75, but worth it. No leakage since I installed it.

[Frost]

Is this still an issue on newer cars? Toybaru have done nothing to fix it?

[ronboogieon]

I've been getting a burning smell thinking I was burning my clutch until I stumbled on these oil leak threads. Went and took a look at my cam plate and there appears to be some oil drops on the exhaust manifold. Mine is a Jul '13 build.

[2_slo]

Sorry guys, I can't help but wonder if I'm missing something...is there some reason I can't just buy a sheet of rubberized gasket material and cut out a gasket for it? It looks to me like that would be a easy permanent fix.