E30 Zone

Hi All,

Looking for a few pointers wrt an oil leak at the front of my M20 engine. I have changed the camshaft front oil seal twice now, (including the 'o' ring) and the leak comes back again after a short while. The parts are BMW dealership, not aftermarket and I am careful when installing them to make sure they seat properly.

The oil leak seems to be comming from the top of the block, leaking down the front right, (drivers side) of the engine (hence I suspect the cam seal). It is making quite a mess but doesn't need regular topping up so can't be loosing too much.

I am puzzled. any suggestions? I could email pics if this helps.

Have you also swapped the D shaped seals at the ends of the rocker shafts?

M20's can be made oiltight,but they were designed in an age when leaking a bit was more acceptable than it is these days.

Common oil weep on the RH side, but not quite at the front, is from the head gasket, where the oil feed goes up to the head around the second head bolt from the front.