2G Help! Oil all over valve cover!

[Joewrechin]

So I got my car running after 3 months of working on it. I’ve done my checks and found a clocked PCV valve and a bad oil full cap, so I fixed both and I’m still getting oil all over my valve cover from a 7mile drive to work. Also after it warms up it starts to smoke when it’s under 2000rpm. So idle or waiting for a light to to turn green. Very small spots of oil out of the exhaust, no oil in the cold side or intake. The only thing I can think of is bad oil ring for the turbo? I’ve already done ram seafoam and marvel to break down any gunk built up on the cylinders. It doesn’t sounds like it’s misfiring at all and idles and drives great, just don’t understand wtf is going on.

 

[pauleyman]

Give us an underhood shot.have you replaced anything? Valve cover and or oil cap gasket?

 

[Joewrechin]

Valve cover gasket, cold side for the turbo, oil fill cap, no leaks around the gasket at all. No oil in spark plug tubes either

 

[DSMPT]

Like Paul said, hard to tell without seeing. You should upload a pic. This could be many things.
First, I would check :

- Valve cover gasket
- Camshaft seals
- CAS seal
- Upper oil dip stick tube seal
- Lower oil dip stick tube seal
- Oil filler cap seal
- Crank front/rear seal
- Oil pump sprocket seal
- Balanceshaft sprocket seal
- Cracked valve cover
- Oil pan/front case/OFH gasket
- Torn or loose connection on oil feed line for turbo.

 

[Joewrechin]

ignore the zip ties, the clip for the plug broke

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obviously I’m new to 4g63 stuff so if you see some stupid crap just tell me I won’t be mad, I don’t have anyone around me with a car like this to talk about

 

[DSMPT]

obviously I’m new to 4g63 stuff so if you see some stupid crap just tell me I won’t be mad, I don’t have anyone around me with a car like this to talk about

No worries, we all were new when start. And yes sure we will let you know if we find some.
So the oil you are referring to is the oil on the filler cap and spark plug cables, and you said you replace the filler cap with new? How does the timing belt look like if you remove the cam gear cover? Do you see oil on the belt?

 

[Mech Addict]

Are all the valve cover bolts snug? Particularly the ones in the depressed, center area. You might put a torque wrench on those. That gold color sort of hides the oil in the photo. I don’t see any cracks, but among Steve’s list that one made good sense to see oil in this location.

 

[steve]

Are all the valve cover bolts snug? Particularly the ones in the depressed, center area. You might put a torque wrench on those.

But be very careful with them because the torque spec is in inch-lbs, 24-36 in-lbs, that's 2-3 ft-lbs, pretty much less than hand tight.
Making it hand tight often leads to a bad sound, "crack".

 

[luv2rallye]

Remove the upper timing belt cover and check for oil leaks.

 

[Joewrechin]

Still nice and clean

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Is your dipstick popping out due to high crankcase pressure (blowby)? That will cover EVERYTHING. Just a thought.

 

[jakk220]

Looks to me like the oil I used to get on the engine from the dipstick being pushed out from blow by. So make sure that is secure after driving. Is there oil on the underside of your hood?

Burning oil from the exhaust at idle after warming up could be from from turbo seals. If it burns some oil on start up I would look at the valve seals.

- Valve cover gasket
- Camshaft seals
- CAS seal
- Upper oil dip stick tube seal
- Lower oil dip stick tube seal
- Oil filler cap seal
- Crank front/rear seal
- Oil pump sprocket seal
- Balanceshaft sprocket seal
- Cracked valve cover
- Oil pan/front case/OFH gasket
- Torn or loose connection on oil feed line for turbo.

Definitely go down this list. Its is most likely one of these.

 

[Joewrechin]

There is oil on the hood right above where the oil fill cap is. It lines up perfectly, the dipstick has not moved at all. So what I’m thinking is that all the crank case pressure is forcing the fill cap to open a bit and spraying oil. So I’ll check valves and but also get a catch can as well

Also thank you guys for the help, happy thanksgiving to all on this forum, y’all have been amazing one of the best forums I’ve ever been a part of! Really enjoy being part of this community

 

[Mech Addict]

There appears to be a crack in the vc, next to the bolt boss where the paint has pealed away ( the one near the tbelt cover bolt hole).
Do you run the car without the plug wire cover, because even the bolt heads have filled with oil.

 

[Joewrechin]

No I don’t have a cover yet, you were right idk how I missed that

 

[CrackedDSM]

There appears to be a crack in the vc, next to the bolt boss where the paint has pealed away ( the one near the tbelt cover bolt hole).
Do you run the car without the plug wire cover, because even the bolt heads have filled with oil.

Beat me to it. Even before that picture, where the oil was pooled at the spark plug galley I was going to say you 100% have a crack in that location somewhere.


Pull the VC and check with a fine tooth comb for cracks in that area. Has to be cracked.

 

[steve]

Plus one of the spark plug cover bosses is broken so it's been cranked on before it was painted. The screw in the weep hole isn't a good look.

 

[Mech Addict]

You should place a “WTB” add in the classifieds on this site. Valve covers are listed for sale often. It’s not worth trying to repair yours.
Order a new vc gasket set, and a tube of rtv sealant. It’s a straightforward repair.