Do i hve a Blown head gasket/valve cover gasket/????

[95DsManiac]

Hey. Well today I was driving and my ic pipe blew off and I stopped to put it back on and I noticed oil on top of my valve cover and upper Intercooler pipes coupler. At first I thought I found it because I had a breather filter on my valve cover and I thought it might be full so I went to pull it off and the whole pipe it was on closest to the clutch side of valve cover moved. It literally would spin. So I just tightened the filter back down and put a little RTV to make it home.

When I got home I went to go and unplug my battery (lights stay on sometimes and now the meth pump is staying on) and I seen more oil, but this time it was way more than before. First I thought it might also be part of why I am losing power in higher RPMs, but I never has oil on the valve cover or couplers until today.

The only thing I can think of would be the head gasket, valve cover gasket or this little screw in the side of the head. Here are some pictures I hope you can see what I'm talking about.

How would I be able to tell if it was the head gasket? Would the car over heat, lose power, or start acting funny?

Also the screw in the side of the head, what is to and can it be a possibility that oil can leak through there?

Here is another picture

Here is another picture

 

[Dsmkauai]

Looks like you need a new valve cover, judging by the rtv by the vent. You probably just blew the valve cover gasket when the ic pipe blew. I would either replace valve cover gasket or clean all the oil off and watch for a few days to see where the leak starts from. Also if you have a lot of blow by in your ic pipes, when the pipe blew off it could have sprayed all over your engine bay, along with the way the vent is set up your asking for a oil mess. And have no idea what you mean by screw in the side of head?

 

[95DsManiac]

Another picture

I meant bolt sorry about the screw statement. Also I just posted a picture. It's under the filter on the side of the head. Another thing I mentioned in the first post that you might have mis read is I just put the RTV on there because I though that was where the oil was coming from and when I got home I popped the hood and there was more oil than before and the RTV wasn't disturbed.

I also thought it might have been from when the Intercooler pipe blew off, but it wasn't. When I was putting it back on I put my fingers inside the pipe and it was dry. But I think that they were dity or coated in black stuff. Or it might have been my hands were dirty already but I don't know.

You can also see in the last picture there is a puddle of oil right under the water neck. I'm hoping it ain't a blown head gasket. I just changed it when I re built the head about 5 thousand miles ago. Also new oem felpro replacement "bolts". But I just turned the boost up to 20 around 2 months ago and only have done about 3 weeks total in driving in those two months. You think it could have lifted the head?

 

[gusu]

When running a breather instead of a oil catch can you will always have oil like that. But it also appears the nipple may have been broken off unless you are the one to have put all of the rtv on it.

 

[95DsManiac]

Gusu: thanks. But if you would read the threads you would know more about what's going on and what was done and or has happened.

I'm not hear to be a a** h*** or anything like that but shouldn't we all read the entire thread if we are going to give a helping hand. But again thanks for the reply and for taking time out your day to help me out.

 

[Dsmkauai]

I would personally clean the engine off really good and keep a close eye on things for the next few days. It's really hard to tell anything from the pics you posted sorry. And turning up the boost will definitely increase the chance of something blowing. If it is the head gasket and your planning to run 20psi or more. I would invest in some arp head studs and a good head gasket (felpro race, Mitsu mls, cometic).

 

[StarFawkes]

I would side with gusu here and say that it is a lot more likely that the oil is from excessive crankcase pressure leading to more blowby, especially since you said you just upped the boost. Since you are only running a filter instead of a proper PCV system it would make me think that filter is just spraying oil in a mist all over your engine bay.

 

[95DsManiac]

Thanks so far for all the replies and help. Im going to clean it off and lower the boost back down. Only reason I upped it was because I just installed the meth kit and I was thinking maybe I wasn’t running enough boost to benefit from it and it was causing my loss of power issue. I also clipped a log to a pull so you all can see what I mean by a loss of power. I even stopped the pull because I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere. You will notice that I don’t even get close to redlining it. I know my AFRs need to be a little more low and stable, but yea. Also If you see how boost holds it makes me think I might not a have a boost leak. And a quick question a little off topic but don’t want to start another thread, my airflow gets up in the higher 40s, could this be right with only 21psi on my MHI 20g? Does this mean thats around its efficiency range?

After I clean up the parts with oil I will check it out overtime I stop and report back with what I find. Also what would be my best bet to do with the filter on the PCV valve? Could I make my own catch can for now until I get a good one? If so, can someone show me a link to how to make it. I will search as well, but if I cant find one I would appreciate the help.