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[omegadavey]

The old girl has blown her nearside rocker cover gasket.. for the third time in 4 years!

Couple of questions for this common fault....

1. I'm still going to use it.. the amount of oil its losing is negligible at the moment. Obviously ill keep an eye on the levels.. but with it running onto the manifold is it likely to catch fire or anything? I remember when it went last time it got quite bad.. it was smoking well.. you could see people diving for cover at the petrol station (ok bit of an exaggeration... but it did get some 'mate I think your cars on fire' comments!

2. Is the 'swapping the plastic Omega covers for Vectra ones' an urban myth or is this actually a cure?

3. Pattern or VX parts... surely no real difference? For what its worth I've used VX parts once.. it didnt last any longer than pattern ones.

4. Gasket sealant... yes or no? Some people say no... I cant see the problem??


Sorry if these questions have already been answered elsewhere....


cheers

Davey

[Lizzie_Zoom]

The old girl has blown her nearside rocker cover gasket.. for the third time in 4 years!

Couple of questions for this common fault....

1. I'm still going to use it.. the amount of oil its losing is negligible at the moment. Obviously ill keep an eye on the levels.. but with it running onto the manifold is it likely to catch fire or anything? I remember when it went last time it got quite bad.. it was smoking well.. you could see people diving for cover at the petrol station (ok bit of an exaggeration... but it did get some 'mate I think your cars on fire' comments!

2. Is the 'swapping the plastic Omega covers for Vectra ones' an urban myth or is this actually a cure?

3. Pattern or VX parts... surely no real difference? For what its worth I've used VX parts once.. it didnt last any longer than pattern ones.

4. Gasket sealant... yes or no? Some people say no... I cant see the problem??


Sorry if these questions have already been answered elsewhere....


cheers

Davey

Yes it should be ok to drive for a short while.

Yes, it is a myth about Vectra cam covers, and Omega ones are just as good as long as they do not warp by over tightening the holding down bolts.


Most people on here are adamant about this one; ONLY use VX cam cover gaskets!!  Pattern ones will fail quickly most of the time!

You do need to use BLACK Vx sealant.

It sounds to me as though your failures could be due to not fitting genuine Vx parts, not torquing the bolts to just 8mn, or you have not been cleaning out your breathers

[Andy H]

You do need to use BLACK Vx sealant.

but only in the corners.

It sounds to me as though your failures could be due to not fitting genuine Vx parts, not torquing the bolts to just 8mn, or you have not been cleaning out your breathers

my money is on there still being a blockage in the breathers.

I am always a little shocked at how many bits need cleaning out  to leave a properly effective breather system. 

[Bent valve]

The old girl has blown her nearside rocker cover gasket.. for the third time in 4 years!

Couple of questions for this common fault....

1. I'm still going to use it.. the amount of oil its losing is negligible at the moment. Obviously ill keep an eye on the levels.. but with it running onto the manifold is it likely to catch fire or anything? I remember when it went last time it got quite bad.. it was smoking well.. you could see people diving for cover at the petrol station (ok bit of an exaggeration... but it did get some 'mate I think your cars on fire' comments!

2. Is the 'swapping the plastic Omega covers for Vectra ones' an urban myth or is this actually a cure?

3. Pattern or VX parts... surely no real difference? For what its worth I've used VX parts once.. it didnt last any longer than pattern ones.

4. Gasket sealant... yes or no? Some people say no... I cant see the problem??


Sorry if these questions have already been answered elsewhere....


cheers

Davey

Yes it should be ok to drive for a short while.

Yes, it is a myth about Vectra cam covers, and Omega ones are just as good as long as they do not warp by over tightening the holding down bolts.

Most people on here are adamant about this one; ONLY use VX cam cover gaskets!!  Pattern ones will fail quickly most of the time!

You do need to use BLACK Vx sealant.

It sounds to me as though your failures could be due to not fitting genuine Vx parts, not torquing the bolts to just 8mn, or you have not been cleaning out your breathers

It is NOT a myth! and I speak as someone who has actually done the conversion on 2 cars.

The simple facts of the matter are that the rigid aluminum covers and their much more efficient gaskets are far, far superior to the cheap plastic covers GM introduced as a cost cutting measure on the V6.

The mating face of the gasket is 3 times wider on the vectra covers and I have used cheap aftermarket gaskets with no problems. You cannot use aftermarket gaskets on the fragile plastic covers as they do not last, so you have no choice other than to be shafted to the tune of £60 - £70 by GM and this is by no means a guaranteed cure, after all if the gaskets were any good they wouldnt leak in the first place!

The plastic covers are a design flaw, unfortunately there is a mindset on this forum that insists that there is nothing wrong with them despite almost every V6 Omega ever built leaking oil from the cam covers at some stage in its life

[CaptainZok]

I'd rather change cam cover gaskets than the crank seal.

[Abiton]

I suppose the question one has to ask is: Do Vectras with their metal cam covers blow crank seals as often as Omegas (with original camcovers) blow their camcover seals?

I have my own guess. 

[humbucker]

I suppose the question one has to ask is: Do Vectras with their metal cam covers blow crank seals as often as Omegas (with original camcovers) blow their camcover seals? I have my own guess. 

clean the breathers out regularly enough and you can use the vectra metal covers without concerning yourself that the cam cover gasket(s) OR the crank seal will go.

not a great mod on the omega anyway though because the oil filler cap is in a different place on the vectra metal cam covers