Well, the 340's been doing about 20 miles a day recently, and started leaving a couple drips of oil on the floor in the last few days

Mum stopped by a local garage today, now, I've got this information fourth hand, so it could be like Chinese whispers and a bit wrong.

It seems that a seal, or bearing or something on the end of the cam shaft has deteriorated and it's leaking out into, or past the distributor. (It's a 1.7 with the distributor connected right onto the end of the cam shaft)

They're getting a new seal/bearing or whatever to put in some time soon, but I wondered if anyone here has had this happen before, as I don't remember hearing about it.

Also, if you have any idea of the part I'm talking about, carrying on using the car until replacement isn't going to harm the head, or camshaft is it? The oil level is being carefully monitored, and isn't falling noticeably.

if your in stafford and need a hand i can come an have a look?
thanks lee

MJ might go to Stafford but I don't think the car has ever left Devon Lee .

well ill be down devon end of may.
thanks lee

The car is indeed in Devon, although it has on occasion left the county Went as far as Somerset once for the Haynes meet And Staffordshire is far enough for me

Thanks for the offer Lee, but hopefully it'll all be fixed by the end of May. The garage was going to source the part and thought it'd only be a half hour job or so to fit it What's going to bring you down to deapest darkest Devon then?

I just heard about this and just felt the need to post about it really

Its a very common problem. Its a fairly easy fix, dismantle end cap, place new cam seal making sure not to get the lip twisted and reassemble, tamping into place afterwards.

The only difficult bit is to get the sealing lip in straight, it has a nasty habit of twisting back on itself.

I'm surprised you haven't had it before, but then again you do so little miles

holiday to painton for a week my lads first holiday.
thanks lee

Ah, that's a relief. It may have been done before, while my grandad had the car, we'll have to look through all the receipts and see.

As you say, she doesn't do many miles, and she's never driven hard (never goes past 3k revs) so not much wear going on.

Have a good holiday Lee, Paignton is a nice place, be sure to check out the zoo. Its Foggy's neck of the woods so he'll know more than me about what to check out

Fairly common problem tbh. It's probably woth replacing oil the oil seal at some stage.

The rear cam seal if bad enough will soak the cap and rotor and can even soak the crank sensor and on really bad cases cause the clutch to slip.

The seal arnt much are done carfully dont cause any problems

Great, thanks

As above, I think they are a service item along with the cam cover gasket (mines leaking from the seal atm.. and the crank seal, and the oil filter, and the oil cap... Nick'll testify, its like a £$%$£ing sieve). I need to get a cam seal, and do the lot over Easter, so might be able to talk you through any probs mate.

MJ wrote:As you say, she doesn't do many miles, and she's never driven hard (never goes past 3k revs) so not much wear going on.

LOL, well, we know it doesn't go far mate, however sometimes the worst thing for a car is short trips as the car doesn't get warmed up properly. I'm not keen on the short trips I make to and from the workshop, as it's less than 3 miles away by road. However you said your Mum has been driving it a bit more recently on longerish journeys! A nice car that we know needs to be kept that way, but enjoy it too.

Pete

Oh yes, well aware of that. It does do a few very short trips, but mostly 10 miles one way and 10 miles back later in the day. It's just not done that often

I was amused by my mate recently who upon just starting a drive changed gear at 4k and said 'I won't rev it too hard now as it's still cold'

IMHO it does a car good to get a good proper run every so often - a nice gentle run out somewhere to warm everything up, followed by a good thrashing round the lanes to exercise it, then a fairly gentle run back in again. Shake the cobwebs out

Andy has said it all, but yes, it's a common fault on the 1.7s, so I'm led to believe. Not a big deal though, and you probably just got some free rustproofing

Yup, spent my first 18 years living about 4 miles from Paignton. Lovely part of the world if you like the great outdoors, but the nightlife is a bit...er....Newquay.

The bars are crap, the clubs are worse, and the only time I've been out there in the last year I had a chav wearing leather gloves get all 'in my face' when I wedged into a corner seat, then enquire forcefully as to why I was "laughing at his mate", which, incidentally, I wasn't. Nice. Still, I had the last laugh, as the bouncers informed me that they'd observed the whole incident on CCTV. They assured me he'd wake up...

cheers

James