I'm in the process of removing the camshaft exhaust cover to fix an oil gasket leak. When I took off the camshaft bolts I noticed the following. Is this normal?
1. Some more oil leaked from the camshaft gasket - I think this makes sense because oil is left in the camshaft cover area.
2. Coolant coming up through the upper bolt holes - is there coolant that may come out of the upper bolt holes somehow'? I don't know the internals of the camshaft area. Maybe there is a passage to the coolant from the upper bolts.

in all my years working on fiats, i have never seen coolant leak from cam housing bolt holes. is it possible yes i guess, as if the holes were too deep they would it coolant passages

BEEK wrote:in all my years working on fiats, i have never seen coolant leak from cam housing bolt holes. is it possible yes i guess, as if the holes were too deep they would it coolant passages

As far as I know there are no coolant disappearing issues so maybe it's by design. Or maybe the PO had to redrill the hole at some point and went too deep. The bolts came out without issue and only the 1 closest to the car interior had coolant. I noticed that this bolt was shorter than the others as well so not sure if that's normal or not. Once I drained the coolant from the rad obviously the fluid in the bolt was gone as well. I'll take a closer look when I remove the camshaft cover and inspect the inside area. I'm just thinking to put some sealant on the bolt or in the bolt hole when I put it back in.

imho, the hole was redrilled too deep or there is a crack in the head. if it is not leaking when the bolt is in, then all is good. i would use a teflon sealant on the threads on that bolt though

BEEK wrote:imho, the hole was redrilled too deep or there is a crack in the head. if it is not leaking when the bolt is in, then all is good. i would use a teflon sealant on the threads on that bolt though

Turns out that the bolts I removed were behind the camshaft cover (closer to the middle of the engine) and were large bolts probably for the head. I've put them back and will retorque.

how many of the head bolts did you remove at one time? the reason i ask is, if you had removed all of them you could have unseated the head, at this point the head gasket may leak even with retorquing the bolts. one at a time is fine for a retorque, but all of them at once could be a problem

BEEK wrote:how many of the head bolts did you remove at one time? the reason i ask is, if you had removed all of them you could have unseated the head, at this point the head gasket may leak even with retorquing the bolts. one at a time is fine for a retorque, but all of them at once could be a problem

I removed 2 at a time only. And only the ones on one side. Didn't touch the ones on the other side at all. I guess I'll just have to retorque and keep my fingers crossed!