Great idea. I'll let him know. At least it will pinpoint the problem area. Is it safe to say if the timing chain cover gasket needs changing the cam tower seals will be next to fail?
not necessarily, the cam carriers are sealed with fipg. eventually they may leak, fipg dosnt last for ever, but if hes doing the timing cover ad their not leaking i wouldnt worry about it.
I don't really buy the booboo during assembly deal. There must be a reason for two assembly plants on opposite sides of the globe having the same mistake. Could be a training deficiency or a lack in tech data for the assembly guys or poor quality of sealant. I don't think it's as simple as one dude screwed up.
if multiple people are receiving the same training in assembling the engines then it would be probably that their doing it wrong only because their following the instructions that they were told. the issue would be more the assembly instructions and not so much human error.