Camshaft Cover Leak and other small issues

hey folks, i was directed here by wawazat?? from NASIOC... i posted a question there, and i'm just gonna copy and paste it here, since i'm told ou guys are more knowledgable on the SVX plane

i'm looking at an SVX... the guy wants a reasonable price for it, and i'm really interested but it's got a couple small issues... the sunroof has an issue in that it sometimes needs help popping open... sounds like something needs lubing to me...
it's got a busted automatic antenna, he says it'd be $45 for a new one (i imagine from a dealer)
Clock and Cruise control are both busted (are they on the same circuit?)
but my biggest concern is that it has a slight oil leak from a camshaft cover, and i'm told that it was a relatively common problem... can anyone tell me what fixing this would entail, if it's a huge job or not, costly, vital, whatever you can give me, that'd be great.

Now, when i posted that on NASIOC, i didn't mention that my family is pretty automotively savvy... i've got a 1970 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia i fixed up myself, and my family also owns a 76 Dodge Dart Swinger... also, i've had quite the string of crappy cars (87 Dodge Charger, 87 Chevy S-10 Blazer, 94 Saturn SL1, etc) that i've had a lot of practice on, so if it's not too complicated of a job, i can probably handle it...

thanks a lot for the help, i appreciate it, and i'm looking forward to owning an SVX and becoming a regular...

[Budfreak]

it sounds like you could handle it to me. antenna for 45 bucks???? damn that's cheap! i paid like 150-200 for a new one from dealership. the sunroof is easy fix. do a search on here for sunroof repair. it just needs it's clutch adjusted which is easy job. never done the cam covers, but from my experiences so far with this car, it shouldn't be to hard. do a search on that too. good luck and hope we can help you out.

thanks for your input! this forum's weird... it goes from the bottom up instead of the top down.... no wonder most of the threads weren't making sense to me... lol

[Budfreak]

yeah i know but you get use to it. hope you decide on the svx cause they may be a little expensive to repair sometimes, but it sure is fun to drive.

[mbtoloczko]

The leak at the cam shaft cover may actually be a leak at the power steering system. Very easy to fix if that's the problem. If the leak is truly at the cam shaft seals, then you'll have to replace the seals. Also not too hard. I'm in the middle of doing it myself. Probably a good idea to do this anyhow because while you're doing the cam seals, you can do the crank seal, replace the water pump, and replace the timing belt. Generally a good idea to replace all those items some time shortly after 100k miles.

not a bad idea doing all that stuff you just mentioned.

WTF?? now it's all top to bottom... someone's trying to confuse me. lol

edit: now it's not anymore... i'm really confused...

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by WIT

not a bad idea doing all that stuff you just mentioned.

WTF?? now it's all top to bottom... someone's trying to confuse me. lol

edit: now it's not anymore... i'm really confused...

I think theres an option somewhere so you can change it.

[lhopp77]

The $45 is about the price of the antenna kit to replace the shaft and plastic cable which is fine if the motor is good.

Lee

[wawazat??]

again that is!

Thanks for coming by. Most folks over on NASIOC don't know much about the SVX. A number of us here are members over there, but I just happened to be the first to catch your post.

I'll stick by my response from NASIOC and allow you to pick up what you can from the others here.

Todd

Here's a picture of the leak (i think), if this helps at all...




thanks for the warm welcome, i'm on a lot of auto forums and so many of them just aren't inviting at all... i appreciate it, and all the input too.

[mbtoloczko]

Ah, so its the valve cover. I was thinking it was the timing belt cover. Looks like its just seeping. Seems to be about the same issue with VW's, eh? I'd just periodically clean it.

Looks like there is quite a bit of corrosion in the picture. I'd look under the car and on the body panels for rust.