Hi guys,

96 850 turbo wagon platinum edition with 188k; the timing belt has been changed but the mileage on the sticker has worn off, so I'm going to assume it's time for a change. I've noticed a bit of oil leaking out of the bottom of the timing belt cover, and it's really the only oil I've seen leaking from the engine (it's sprayed all over the axle below of course). I just did the pcv system about 4K ago, so this has probably been blowing through the front camshaft seals for a while now. I finally popped off the cover to look inside; I really couldn't see the seals too well, but it looks like it's coming from the exhaust cam. I have included a couple pics to get some input; I was a little nervous about this job but I think I can tackle it. I'm thinking I'll need to change out the belt, tensioners, pulleys and water pump, especially with the oil spraying around in there. And the seals of course. The sprockets appear to be getting some rust as well, anybody have thoughts on that? I live in the northeast, so salt in the winter is all over. Let me know what you all think,

Bob

 

Here's another pic:

 

might be the cranks seal also - take a look around the crank gear
don't worry about the surface rust

 

yep if you have oil dripping onto the cover from above the water pump, its probably a cam seal. A bad PCV system can push oil out through the seals. Replacing the seals on the 850s are pretty straight forward (no VVT gear to make things complicated). If you are doing the timing belt, probably only adds another 30 minutes or so. You need to mark the cam and gear to make sure sure it goes back on the same way. you can use a screw (like a dry wall screw) to pull out the old, and simply press in the new. I haven't done a main seal yet...

 

I have seen some rather detailed write-ups on changing the cam seals, so it looks like if I can follow directions I should be able to get it. My problem nowadays is my back needs a day to recover after working on the engine :-(