I got started today on replacing my VVT cam gear, all 4 cam seals and a timing belt job. Holy crap... now I understand why volvo shops charge so much labor to do this work!

But I ran into an unexpected issue. When I pulled the dust plug from the rear of the intake cam the camshaft seal was missing. In its place was gobs of black crud. At first I though it had been leaking bad for awhile, but after really getting in there I found that there simply is no seal to be found! The dust plug looked original, and I can't fathom why someone would remove the seal and not put one back in.

The only thing I can think of is that the seal started leaking and somehow fell out and just got chewed up by the rotation of the camshaft. But those seals have a metal piece and I would think something of that would have survived.

Im just going to clean the area out really good and stick a new seal in.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of this before?

 

The plug is the seal

 

+1. There is not a seal like the other side under the plug. Now you can fit a seal in there once the crud is cleaned, but stock there wasn't one.

 

Whew, now I feel much better. Thanks guys.