I needed to replace my camshaft seal as I found that it was indeed the culprit of my oil leak. I'm not sure why it was leaking as it was brand new and I am sure that I did not damage it or fold the lip back.

The dealer gave me a new one (gratis, Frank is a great guy!) and I started taking thins apart yesterday. While looking at the timing cover after I got the distributor off, I did not really want to take the upper timing off again and go through the sealing process again. Especialy since it was not leaking and they are tricky to deal with. Looking at it, I thought why couldn't I change it with the cover on? I got a screwdriver and pried the old one off. Used a rag to clean the surface of the cover where the seal contacts and oiled the inside of the new seal. I made sure that the outside of the seal was clean and slipped it over the cam and partly into the hole making sure it was parallel to the cover. I used a small tack hammer to tap the seal into place until it was flush to the cover all around.

I did notice that I placed this seal a little further into the cover than the previous one. (I didn't do that one) The cam does not protrude very far out from the cover and maybe the seal was not fully mating with the cam.

I put all back together today after getting a new distributor cap. I broke the center contact inside the old one getting it out. I ran the car for awhile this afternoon while I put the center console back together. So far, no signs of a leak. What I thought was going to be a no cost fix ended up being $80.

These pics are without the seal, and with the new seal in place.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)