308 QV Cam seals

Hi all,
I had the car up on the lift last weekend and noticed a little drip of oil up on the front passenger side (front bank) of the motor near where the cam seals are.
I've looked around for a procedure, but have found none.

I'm thinking about doing this myself and was wondering if the procedure is within my abilities.
I did the clutch on this car, and timing belts on a honda a while back.

What other seals, shims, belts, o-rings, etc should be done while it's apart? I'm afraid it could turn into a major service when all is said and done. That might be o-kay in a few months when the car is taken off the road for the winter.

Thanks, John

You must remove the cam covers, timing belts, cam pullies. If you are going to change the o-rings that are also on the cam seal housing, then the cams must be removed.

so what Tom is saying is, in all truthfullness when cam seals are leaking it's major service time.

Right Tom?

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and I agree...

problem is this John, you're asking for a judgement call and we can't see the leak. However, when I see cam seal leaks of a serious enough nature I advise that the correct, real and prudent way to proceed is to take it all apart, clean, service and put it all back together again which amounts to a full (top end at least) major service.

That's what I thought. The leak was noticed after a 2.5 hr drive and is visible from underneath when looking at the front of the motor above the alternator. The alt is dry. I will try to take a picture, but it could be difficult.
The yellow mark on the following is wher the .5 inch drip is roughly located. (valve cover meets head meets belt cover) I know, this is a 2-valve.






The major was done two years ago by the previous owners mechanic in Dallas. Is it just poor design or human error causing this to leak in such a short time. The car has had maybe 3000 miles during this time.
Thanks again

Without seeing in person it's impossible to say why it's leaking. As long as it doesn't drip on the cam belt the situation can be monitored over time. To seal these top ends up right is a real bitch, as the general design provides plenty of places for a drip to develop.

Thanks JRV- I'll have someone look at it soon. It doesn't seem to be near the belts at all. I'm cleaning the motor this weekend, so I can really monitor the drip after that.
I appreciate all the free help you have provided for this car.

The understatement of the year award goes to JRV for: "...the general design provides plenty of places for a drip to develop".

I believe that it was a joint design effort between the Italians and the British...Nuff said.

Amen!