Blowing cam seals - Oil pressure too high?

[50313]

I was leaking oil and took it to the shop. The rear main seal was leaking, so was the valve cover and the cam seals. They replaced all of them. When I went to pick it up the car wasn't running correctly so I left it there and had them look into it. Apparently the cam seals had blown out. They put in another set and they blew out too. They replaced the PCV valve and there was still too much oil pressure. So now he wants to replace the oil pump.

My question is, is this the next logical step?

Thanks,

-peel

 

[RABID_MP5]

What do you feel revving the motor at the oil filler hole with cap removed? Do a compression check. I'm thinking crankcase blowby pressure versus oil pressure.

 

[50313]

The car is still at the shop while I make a decision as to what to do, so I can't really do any tests on my own. The engine was rebuilt about 20K miles ago, but apparently the guys that did it did a pretty shoddy job since I've already had the rear main seal replaced once since then and now all of this. But it sounds like you're not sold on the idea of replacing the oil pump to fix the issue. Quite frankly I'm not either, which is why I've reached out to the forum.

 

[thuzil]

Cam seals should not blow because of high oil pressure. Are they using Mazda parts?

 

[50313]

Cam seals should not blow because of high oil pressure. Are they using Mazda parts?

He tried aftermarket and OEM seals. Said they all blew pretty quickly. What would cause cam seals to blow?

 

[njaremka]

He tried aftermarket and OEM seals. Said they all blew pretty quickly. What would cause cam seals to blow?

not high oil pressure... as was mentioned, piston ring blow-by will cause high crackcase pressure, which will over-pressurize seals.

 

[50313]

So looks like I'm looking at another rebuild if I decide to hang on to it. Which I probably won't. So who's in the market for a very nice rolling chassis with less than 90K miles on it?

 

[MaxPower]

The problem might not be the cam seals. The cam caps that go over the cam seals need to mate very accurately with the cylinder head. If they do not, oil will leak out between the cam cap and the cylinder head. Simply bolting on the cam caps does not ensure they seal adequately--I'm not sure of the procedure to make sure the surfaces mate well.

 

[TrueSpeedRacing]

I'm also having this issue! And it's aggravating..Iv done it 4 times and still leaks! What's the solution?

 

[MrGiggles]

Try putting a little anaerobic sealer around the outside of them before installing.

The inner lip needs to be oiled or greased as well, or the seal will be damaged upon start-up.

 

[50313]

Unfortunately my solution was to sell the car.