Hi all, can u have the cam cover gaskets go even though the breathers are clear, cause i have an oil leak from the cam covers, so i checked the breathers and there clear, no resistance at all and pipes were clean. Gonna sort the cam gaskets next week, but just wondered if they go just through age.

Yes, they can go through age but, if fitted correctly (clean surfaces, sealer in the correct places, tightened to correct torque) can last the life of the engine, especially if the breathers are clear.  

If they have been replaced with non VX ones, their life span can be a handfull of months, sometimes a lot less.

valliant72 wrote on 16. May 2008 at 19:23:

Hi all, can u have the cam cover gaskets go even though the breathers are clear, cause i have an oil leak from the cam covers, so i checked the breathers and there clear, no resistance at all and pipes were clean. Gonna sort the cam gaskets next week, but just wondered if they go just through age.

Have you followed the breather pipes done to the breather box? it has a very small hole the size of a needle plus one about 12-13mm...
The small one does get blocked when not oil changed regular :y

Thanks for you are replies, yeah i checked the breather box and they were ok, the lil pin size one was clear aswell, im not sure if the leak was cause by the guy who sold it to me had steam cleaned the engine. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong, especially electrical wise, but touch wood, everything else has been ok.

what about if the breather pipes were put on the wrong way or mixed up?