retrothis

Been slowly building my NB 2.5 for the past two years. Since getting turbocharged, it always had a bit of oil leaking somewhere from the front of the engine. I gather its because 1) I didn't put a check valve between the intake manifold and factory PCV valve and 2) because the engine that I put into the car used to have aircon and THAT bolt was never replaced. I rectified both, valve train vented to air and a short oil pump bolt installed. Still,oil is leaking from somewhere. I though that i'll investigate the camshaft seals, read somewhere that these can be dislodged if PCV valve lets boost in. Seals were in place but both cam gears covered in oil and oil everywhere under the seals. Cool, but then I looked under the cam cover and was greeted with this:

I panicked and immediately removed the head to change the head gasket. The head gasket looks fine though. Was talking to my dad, he said could be condensation. Makes sense, but is it?
Anyone have experienced this?

WigglingWaffles

Did you bother doing a compression/leakdown test before yanking the head...?

retrothis

No unfortunately, don't have the tools to hand. Case of leap without looking, it seems.

curly

iTrader: (25)

This happens frequently when a car, especially in cooler or high humidity climates sits for a long time, or with minimal run time. You need to get your oil up to 200* to burn it off.

I work at a shop with dozens of cars in the parking lot. We start many of them to move them around, and I see this a lot when I work on them and pull the valve covers. Not saying you don't have another underlying issue, but that could be an explanation.

retrothis

Yeah, it lives under the exact conditions you describe, cold, humid garage and rarely driven. Thanks for sharing, learned something today!
Hopefully will get it back together by the end of next week, provided all parts arrive.