How can I stop the oil cap form leaking oil around the seal?

Hi,

Do me a favor. Remove the oil cap and start the engine. Check to see how much pressure is blowing out. If it is excessive, you may have either a plugged PCV system or the piston rings may be worn enough to cause excessive crankcase pressure.

I attached a pic below and highlighted where the PCV hose will attach to the valve cover (where the oil cap is located). Start the engine and remove the hose from the valve cover and see if there is a vacuum being produced in that hose. That hose will go to the intake, so there should be a strong vacuum when the engine is running. Also, it may even cause the engine to stall. At a minimum, it will run rough and change the idle speed.

If there isn't, turn the engine off and remove the hose and inspect it for being plugged. Also, check the valve cover to make sure it isn't plugged as well.

Let me know what you find.

Joe

Hi,

Did you remove the PCV hose at the valve cover? If so and there was no vacuum, either the hose is plugged or where it attaches to the intake is. Check both. At idle, you will feel the most vacuum and it should be noticeable.

Let me know what you find. Just FYI, when the engine is running, there should be a constant vacuum on that hose.

Take care,
Joe

Hi,

You won't feel a vacuum on the valve cover side. You feel it from the hose which is connected to the intake. Check that.

As far as a cam sensor, it doesn't have a traditional sensor. The 2.2 liter engine utilizes Compression Sense Ignition (CSI), which eliminates the need for a camshaft position sensor. The electronic ignition module (EI) has sensing circuitry that detects when cylinder #1 or cylinder #3 has fired on its compression stroke and relays this information to the PCM. The PCM can then correctly synchronize the fuel injectors for sequential fuel injection.

I don't see how that would cause the issue you are dealing with. Also, the vehicle would not be running too well.

Try checking for a vacuum on the rubber hose side of the PCV. If there isn't a vacuum, we need to do some checking. There has to be a vacuum if the engine is running.

Let me know.

Joe

Hi,

Here is my concern: If the CSI isn't recognizing a compression stroke, it will cause this code. When I think that you could have excessive blow-by, that could be a good indicator that compression is low. When I say blow by, I am referring to how much pressure is in the engine. That could be caused by worn piston rings or cylinder walls. Either of those could allow excessive compression to bypass the rings and end up in the crankcase. That could be the cause of the oil cap issue.

What I would suggest at this point is to check engine compression. If it is exceptionally low, I believe we found our problem. Here is a link that shows how it is done:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Let me know what you find.

Also, if you look at the attachments below, I included the diagnostic directions and relevant pics for checking for a p0340.

Let me know.

Take care,

Joe

See pics below.