Leak Found

I have noticed a very small amount of oil under my car and I have located the source. There are two small plates, one on each side of the engine, where the oil is coming from. I have put an arrow to it in the pic below. Any idea what this is? am I missing a bolt?
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Leaking valve cover gasket.

 

Yup. Also, I may have a solution to your idle problem. Notice in your pictures where the spark plug wires come out of the valve covers? There are supposed to be a foam block with cut outs for each of the four wires. This is to form a water tight seal. Without the foam block, when you wash the car or drive in the rain (heaven forbid! ), water can get in the plug wells nearest to that point.

The water intrusion can cause a miss, even after the water is long evaporated, the plug can be fouled. Only way to tell for sure is to open it up, and check (you may even see some light corrosion on the plug). Also, the original wires only had one seal on the portion that fit down in the plug well. The newest versions from Beru now have four seals. You can order new wires from www.kingsborne.com for $250, a literal bargain, as they use the exact same Beru connectors as the factory wires (well, with new updated connectors).

You can order the foam blocks from Ricambi America. When you open up the top cover plate, you will probably need to replace the paper gaskets there too, also available from Ricambi. Might need to replace the two rear most spark plugs too.

 

You can get a miss just from spark plug wires being that close to each other. A little separation is a good thing. No harm in having space.

 

Not going to happen in the 355 valve covers, they are simply crammed into a very tight space, along with all that heat, it is just prudent to replace the wire sets after 7 or 8 years.

 

+1 on that, I had corrosion down there. It seemed to be just on the outside of the plug and it ran fine, but still not a good thing.

 

The engine out was June '06, don't they usually fix these things?

Looks like I am ordering parts and doing some engine work. Thanks for all of the feedback!!!

 

Hmmm...Looks like Part #48

Detail lists Quantity as "1"

Looks like there is supposed to be a bolt in that hole but drawing doesn't match. I have no 355 to reference. anyone else got a shot of that cover installed?

Or is it just the O-ring failing (#32)
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

On the middle pic, right where 42 is pointing, is where the "missing" bolt might go, but the pic does not show a bolt for that location.

 

#9 is a dowel, #11 is a stud that pokes through from the other side. It is supposed to hold braket #58 in place. Not sure what the bracket is for. Can you get access to replace the stud / gasket? I'm not posative that is the problem. I'm trouble shooting using the sketch. Based on your photo, I still think its the O-Ring

 

Well the foam block is an error on the service dept. They simply forgot or ignored installing new ones. The oil leaks from the valve/cam covers should have been addressed at the major service, but they can start leaking again. I would think they should cut you a break on redoing the gaskets on both sides to seal it up.

 

Does anyone else have a pic of this area on their car?

 

I just went and took these. There not the best so I hope they help. It looks like there is a hex head bolt in there, but not possitive I took these in the dark... Garage has very bad lighting..
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Here are my pics, the allen is in there.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login