Originally posted by gwellington:
Just had the identical problem with my wife's Saturn SC-2, and it was the cam cover gasket. On the Saturn, at least, the part was fairly inexpensive (about $35) and it was a very simple job, but as 7999 said, it's critical to get the mating surfaces clean (use "brake clean" spray to clean the oil and residue off). On the Saturn the cover is plastic "composite" so the bolt torquing is very low to keep the plastic from cracking (89 inch-pounds, which seemed not much more than finger-tight). Not sure if the Contour's cover is plastic or metal but if it's the former, be careful if you try to tighten the bolts first to see if you can stop the leak that way.



If I can, I'll take some pictures of what is going on here.
But I might have this car looked at before any of that would
matter. It's made of metal and does leak around the sides.

I'm not sure how this works. If I take off the Gasket cover will oil get all over the place?

You know how on the Zetec engine there is this black strip cover along the top that hide the plug wires. You take that off and then pull out the wires. Now when you look inside you see lots of oil all around in puddels where the plugs go into the engine.

And you all want me to replace the gasket (???) ring thingy..lol