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Front Cam Seal - P A N I C ! - Is there some trick?? Please Help! 850

posted by  bhs82 on  Wed May 4 15:03 CST 2005
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last visit: Tue Dec 7 10:15 CST 2010
[RELATED]

OK, on one hand, I feel like a dweeb.
On the other hand, I have that paniced feeling... where you swallow your heart, get that lump in your throat, and !@#%%^& bricks as your heart drops into your stomach and you think you just $%^&*( up your car.

Been there??

In this case, when I went to do my T-Belt change, I noticed a very small, but existing leak at the front exhaust cam seal. I ordered the seals, finished the T-Belt install, re-used the old tensioner instead of putting the new in, and drove the car - all was fine.

Last night, the new cam seals arrived. I went to take off the sprockets.. I do not have any impact tools, so this was a little challenging, but not too bad. Then I just could not get the cam seal out. I tried very gently with a small screwdriver, but the rubber only started to get chewed up.

Did I mention, I am terrified of scoring the camshaft journal or seat for the seal!

I went out and bought some tools - a pick designed particularly for oil seal removals, and a pick set. All tips are bending on these picks, and still no budge of the original seal!

My new seal has a "spring" like retainer going around the inside (see pics; wide / tight)... I presume the old is the same, but I can not seem to engage this spring, or when I do, it does not budge, and the pick tips bend.

Is there some trick??
Should I be using WD-40 or some kind of lubricant around the seal??

Any help would be awesome, considering I am supposed to be in court tomorrow and that is a two hour drive from here!

Thanx.
--
1995 850T Wagon 120k









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    Front Cam Seal - P A N I C ! - Is there some trick?? Please Help! 850

    posted by  someone claiming to be Mike on  Thu May 5 00:19 CST 2005 [RELATED]

    As another guy said, just use a screwdriver and carefully pry it outwards, away from the cam and you won't scratch anything. You need to just keep going around the seal until it finally moves, that's common with all seals.

    RELAX!

    As for that spring, leave it alone as it needs to be there. Volvo makes a special tool to install those seals BUT you can still do it w/o the tools. CAREFULLY tap it in with a punch or 1/4" drive extention so that it's evenly seated and as deep as the old one. If you want anything to go on the friction surface of that seal (camshaft), use engine oil only but be sure that there's no oil on the outer surface and cam journal side or the new seal could pop out. That surface needs to be cleaned dry with a solvent (brakeclean works well).








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      Front Cam Seal - P A N I C ! - Is there some trick?? Please Help! 850

      posted by  bhs82 on  Thu May 5 05:40 CST 2005
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      last visit: Tue Dec 7 10:15 CST 2010
      [RELATED]

      Thanx for your responses both Mike and Steve... I also emailed Mark "rule 308"…

      My guess is that the last person in there used some kind of sealant or gasket maker / glue when they last installed the existing seal. I fear that they perhaps scored either the seat or journal themselves last time, and used the sealant to “fill in the gap”. I am experienced enough (I think) to conclude there is no way that what I have encountered is normal, or routine. The problem is, once I got started, the old seal was shot, so I have to see this through.

      I have been using a pick set and making very slow but gradual progress. The old seal is coming off in small bits and pieces, and I have been using a shop vac and canned air to try and keep any and all of the shavings from getting inside the housing. I did get to the spring with a pick and worked that out (it was broken - dunno if I did that or if that was how it was). Most of the seal is off now, but the last 1/8 is in a very hard-to-reach area – particularly for the picks I have. As mentioned before, all the tips were bending, so I went back to Kragen and got another set of theirs and to Sears to get what they had before the stores closed last night.

      I am down to that last area, and have thought about using gasket remover, but am afraid of getting that inside the housing, or compromising the head seal / gasket.

      I have been having to scrape the old cam seal off/out millimeter by millimeter, using a tiny screwdriver head. I fear that I may have scored the seat in doing so, but had no real other choice. I have 2 seals, and after the problems on this exhaust cam, just want to leave the non-leaking-for-now intake cam seal alone. This gives me (in essence) an extra seal, so if I install the first one and it too leaks in an area that I scored, I suppose I would use the second seal and use some type of gasket maker / sealant the way I suspect the last guy did.

      I am trying to take intermittent pictures, and will post / send them later, but now I need to focus on getting all my paperwork ready for court... Hence, I am forced to abandon the whole project for now and take my motorcycle back and forth through the rain about 2 hours each way - Hooray.

      Thanx again,
      Cheers
      --
      1995 850T Wagon 120k








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        Front Cam Seal - P A N I C ! - Is there some trick?? Please Help! 850

        posted by  bhs82 on  Sat May 7 10:53 CST 2005
        Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS] RSS Feed     [IGNORE ALL POSTS]
        last visit: Tue Dec 7 10:15 CST 2010
        [RELATED]

        Alright guys,

        Here is the pic of the mid-process seal removal. You can see the spring, which I was fortunate enough to snag with a pick. The seal is adhered with about the same stubborness as a baked on gasket, yet because it is rubber rather than fiber, scraping it off is a bear since the material likes to flex.

        Click here for a larger image.

        Will post a new thread (since it has been a few days) regarding whether my removal scored the seat to the point where I should be adding some sort of sealant or glue for the new installation.

        Cheers
        --
        1995 850T Wagon 120k









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    Front Cam Seal - P A N I C ! - Is there some trick?? Please Help! 850

    posted by  Steve@CBE on  Wed May 4 22:47 CST 2005
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    hi again,
    i do it by wedging a small screwdriver (tap lightly with a small hammer) between the alloy housing and the seal then levering the edge of the seal out, do this on oposite sides of the seal and it should come out enough to grap it with some pliers. you may mark the alloy slightly but this is not so bad as you can put a smear of sealant around the outer edge of the rubber seal upon installation. also this way is better than marking the cam surface.

    steve.







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