Plastic Cap Popped Off, Engine Spewing Oil

[CowPimp]

http://members.shaw.ca/dsm.1000q/Engineprimer/2G/cas.htm

My car and mods are in my profile. About where this picture indicates, there is a little plastic cap that has popped off and disappeared (I don't have the CAS mounted there as indicated in this picture). This has happened a few times recently. Oil leaks out from this hole. I checked my dipstick, and it was showing virtually no oil. I think this is somewhat inaccurate, because I was getting decent oil pressure the whole way home from work.

Either way, how can I go about getting a replacement cap? What is this part called? Is there anything else I should know about this issue?

 

[igopoopy]

umm there shuldent be a cap why dont you have a sensor?

 

[igopoopy]

i will try and find one for people(like me)who dont know what he is taking about looks like

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[Defiant]

Still no clue of what he's talking about. "Small cap"? "Small" compared to a thimble or a Luger? Are you blowing out the camshaft half-moon?

Digital cameras are $20 now. If you don't have one, have your neighbor take a picture.

 

[CowPimp]

Still no clue of what he's talking about. "Small cap"? "Small" compared to a thimble or a Luger? Are you blowing out the camshaft half-moon?

Digital cameras are $20 now. If you don't have one, have your neighbor take a picture.

Hold on, I'll circle it on the other guy's picture.

 

[igopoopy]

Still no clue of what he's talking about. "Small cap"? "Small" compared to a thimble or a Luger? Are you blowing out the camshaft half-moon?

Digital cameras are $20 now. If you don't have one, have your neighbor take a picture.

i have never noticed it but

 

[CowPimp]

Yeah, igopoopy circled it.

 

[Defiant]

Yeah, that's the cam cover half-moon. If it's blowing out, you have some serious engine issues.

Have you removed your PCV, or blocked your crankcase vent tube?

 

[CowPimp]

Is the crankcase vent tube where a valve cover breather hose would normally be connected?

 

[CowPimp]

Hey Defiant, if you have AIM or ICQ, I would highly appreciate it if you messaged me. My screenname is SirMoocow.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Thats a round cap almost like the halfmoon, but different. The "half moon" is the one in "front" of the one circled in the pic. Its found on 95 and 96 cars, where the CAS is behind the intake cam gear. All years have the half mon in front of the exhaust cam. If I remember correctly it is held in just by the valve cover clamping down on it. If its blowing out I would suspect missing bolts in that corner (obvious) or cracks in the same location (less obvious). I would try gently prying up on the valve cover at that hole and see if it moves visibly. Dont douch the cover though, be gentle. If its not moving perhaps the cap is no good, if you have been reusing the same one, which I assume is the case since you've popped it out before but don't know how to get a new one. As far as the name, I have no idea. I would have the dealership parts guy pull up the diagrams and just look for it. Or perhaps someone here with caps can get busy and look it up for you. I can check when I get home from work if I remember. It should only be a few bucks, and if you have never replaced the VC gasket this might be a good time (cap popping out may have worn or damaged it anyway).

 

[CowPimp]

Thanks for your input. I replaced the valve cover gasket within the past 15K or so. I think I found the part online with the help of some others. Also, Defiant seems to think the problem may be that my crankcase vent tube was removed and capped off.

 

[92redman]

That part is most likely going to be just called a cam plug. And if your pcv system is not functioning properly then that definately could cause all kinds of leaking seals.

 

[CowPimp]

Yeah, that's the cam cover half-moon. If it's blowing out, you have some serious engine issues.

Have you removed your PCV, or blocked your crankcase vent tube?

By the way, it's not the half moon. This plug is a full 360 degree circle. I bought the part from a Mitsubishi dealership today. The title they gave it was "cylinder head camshaft end seal." Currently, I'm just letting the crankcase vent into the atmosphere until I get the parts later this week.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Yeah, you definitely want as much crankcase ventilation as you can get. I have both ports on the valve cover vented to atmosphere using 3/8th fuel line. Where the PVC valve was I installed a brake boost fitting from a stock manifold. Ideally you would want a vacuum in there. But zero pressure would be good enough, and thats hard to get even with both vents.

 

[CowPimp]

Well, I seemed to have solved the problem. I bought an open atmosphere vent from Extreme Motorsports. So far so good, which is a couple thounsand miles later...

Just thought I would update this thread with the solution in case someone else has the same problem.

 

[starsthensun]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. Tonight I had my cylinder head camshaft end seal blow out. That's the full circle seal, not the half moon. The engine has been running good, somewhat new pcv valve, 19 in. HG vacuum. Other than the camshaft cap that holds the seal in place being loose, what would cause this end seal to blow out?

 

[casperfast]

excessive blow by caused by worn piston rings, bad or worn valve stem seals, incorrect hose routing, plugged pcv valve, or even a wide open pcv that is allowing you to put boost pressure into your valve cover. take the oil fill cap off while its running and see how much air is or is not blowing out

 

[BigBeans]

^^ It would take a ton of crankcase pressure to do that. You'd be blowing out dipsticks and pushing oil through various seals before blowing out a cam seal. I can't really think of logical way to blow out cam seals without having a ton of other issues from excessive crankcase pressure.

I would just buy new cam seals, make sure everything is clean and dry, and reinstall with Permatex Ultra Gray on the outside of the seals.

 

[starsthensun]

I will check the pcv valve to make sure it is operating properly. The cam seals didn't blow out, its the Cylinder head camshaft end seal. Take a look at the picture at the top of this thread ( red valve cover)