Open Road

I have not dug in on this one yet.
It’s bad enough I have smoke in the cabin towards the end of track sessions.

My assumption is it will require pulling the rear timing belt case off. ie full tear down, cam gear removal etc.
Am I wrong? Easier approach?

Crumpler wrote: ↑Mon Jan 19, 2026 11:28 am My assumption is it will require pulling the rear timing belt case off. ie full tear down, cam gear removal etc.
Am I wrong? Easier approach?

As (your) luck would have it, on the left side there's enough room - theoretically - to R&R the intake cam hole plug. Not so much on the right side.

How bad is it leaking?

Smoke in the cabin is not fun. Obviously you've got oil pooling somewhere and then dripping on to the exhaust by the time you finish a session.

It’s bad enough I can’t pretend it’s not happening.
If it was PCA I would get bounced.
Ok thank you for the insight. I will see what I can pull off.

Crumpler wrote: ↑Mon Jan 19, 2026 2:59 pm I will see what I can pull off.

Since your leak is the right side, it's the hard way or no way. You can avoid doing "the whole timing belt" of course, if you want to. But still, it's a lot of work.

Wait... I just really read the title of this thread: "FRONT LOWER CAM PLUG LEAK"

If it is the "lower" plug, it's not the plug. There is no plug. There is a cam seal. And that makes more sense to me as a big leaker.

Ooof.
Ok. Glad I asked. I will research and order parts.

Question.

Ordered seals.
Have not disassembled anything yet.
WSM a little sparse on S3 information for cam seal replacement. It looks like 87 you can replace seal without removing cam bearing bridge, but 86 needs bridge off?

Crumpler wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 9:40 am WSM a little sparse on S3 information for cam seal replacement. It looks like 87 you can replace seal without removing cam bearing bridge, but 86 needs bridge off?

All 32v should be the same AFAIK. But, send me WSM page refs that lead you to this conclusion.

IMO, the main issue is making/stealing the two-piece driver set instead of thinking you can drive the seal in with thumbs and a hammer.

So my first thought was that the cam seal was basically like the plug, where I could extract it with the proper puller, and then replace it with the proper driver. With cover on and bridge intact, in and out. This may have been fantasy on my part.

I found a thread on RL that was all over the place.

WSM (15-128) gets confusing to me. There’s an 87 onward for seal installation, it shows covers (plugs) going in after bridge is torqued but no mention of cam seal per se.
Then a 85 onward for leaky seals/plug with feeler gauge and bridge adjustment.




Now my assumption is that cam cover will need to be off and bearing bridge removed to properly replace cam seal right?

Ok. I understand the confusion.

Crumpler wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 6:28 pm So my first thought was that the cam seal was basically like the plug, where I could extract it with the proper puller, and then replace it with the proper driver. With cover on and bridge intact, in and out. This may have been fantasy on my part.

You can replace the cam seal with the front bridge in place.

That's part #9 in the diagram (WM 15-120?) you posted.

Crumpler wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 6:28 pm I found a thread on RL that was all over the place.

Screw rennlist. So many people posting 'solutions' that it's too hard to find the (correct) signal in the noise.

Crumpler wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 6:28 pm WSM (15-128) gets confusing to me. There’s an 87 onward for seal installation, it shows covers (plugs) going in after bridge is torqued but no mention of cam seal per se.

First look at WM 15-128 step 19. This shows the installation of the cam (lip) seal and is the same for all 32v heads. The cam belt gear is attached to the the nose of the exhaust cam. The bearing bridge has high-pressure oil journals. The lip seal is what keeps the oil from squirting out.

I highly recommend looking at 15-119 tools #2 and #3. #3 slides over the nose of the cam. You oil the outside of the tool and slip the cam seal onto it and slide the seal forward. #3 thus prevents the nose of the cam from damaging the lip of the seal (which if damaged means that it WILL leak and you get to do this all over) and uniformly expands the lip seals spring. #2 is then used to drive the seal in.

I have a picture of this which I will hopefully not forget to attach to this post.

On page WM 15-128a, step #1 shows cam journal plugs for the *rear* cam bearing surfaces. These are needed for '87+ because the (shorter) '87+ cams do not use the rear cam bearing surfaces. That 'hole' is just open. Nothing fills it except the plugs shown.

Your S3's cams are 'long' and DO use the rear bearing surfaces. But, because the rear end of the cam doesn't need to protrude out of the head to accept a gear it doesn't need a lip seal like it does in the front.

On the same page, step #2, shows (with tool #2) driving in the 'cam hole plugs' that are used in the three holes per head that do not pass a cam nose through.

The plugs for the '87 are needed because otherwise all the pressurized oil for the cam bearings would just squirt out of those journals. Thus, they seal the journals; they actually have a little metal pin that does the sealing. In later years the rubber part is deleted and it's just a long pin (short story, long story out of context for S3.)

Clear(er)?

Absolutely! Great pic.
Thanks Dave.
I owe you a bottle of something.