Oil Leak On Oil Cover [Merged 9-7] cap gasket dipstick leaking pool

[weith1111]

Either that or oil cap gasket. Clean it all out and replace the gasket. Is there any oil INSIDE the spark plug wells?

 

[ahaidet]

I had the same problem. A few things can cause oil to fill in the valve cover check:

leaking oil cap gasket- These are cheap from mitsu or you can make your own from gasket material. Mine was very hard and not sealing very well, also you can try bending the tabs up on the oil cap a little bit to make it seal a little tighter. Or get a new cap all together mitsu wants like 5 bucks for the cap from Rockville Mitsubishi.

A crack in your valve cover- The cover is only supposed to be torqued to about 5ft-lbs per the service manual, the material it is made out of is some what brittle. Do not use a long ratchet to tighten it, if you have a 1/4" ratchet or even a 1/4" screwdriver type socket driver use that, 5 ft-lbs is not much at all! (mine actually had a crack from the previous owner)

PCV valve- if the PCV valve is either leaking boost pressure in from the intake or is not venting the crankcase pressure it can build pressure and force oil out of the valve cover, if the valve is good and if the car is running poorly as well you may try a compression or leak down test to see if you are getting excessive blow by.. (hopefully its not this) Do a boost leak test from the Throttle body with the PCV disconnected from the valve cover, see if it is in fact leaking from the intake side. A small leak is normal (it is only a ball and spring), a larger leak is not kinda have to use your discrestion here.

Hope this helps..

(just noticed your car is n/t disregard the boost leaking in and boost leak tests.. but check the PCV valve to verify its functioning because that could still be pressurizing the crank case and forcing out oil) I left this info for future searches which you should have done because the info is available.

 

[avw0516]

I had the same problem. I replace my oil cap gasket and that didn't fix it so I got a whole new(er) valve cover, problem solved. Hope you can figure yours out.
-Andrew

 

[dnhieu]

possible fixes......bad oil cap seal, cracked valve cover valve, valve cover not tightened down enough (do not over tighten. just tighten enough to stop oil from getting in with the spark plugs. this doesnt take much at all MAYBE 1-2 ft of torque), or valve cover gasket

hope that hleps
david

 

[92GSXBaltimore]

not that it would make the oil go only on the valve cover, but if your dipstick if flying out because of blowby, then it might be coming from there, but more likely its a cracked valve cover or oil cap gasket

 

[1fast97gsx]

Mine is also doing the same thing. I think it's actually coming out of the bolt holes in the center on mine. WTF

 

[spoolintsi97]

i get oil there too i replaced my oil cap. if the valve cover is cracked does that mean you can see the crack or can it be hard to see

 

[1fast97gsx]

They will be very hard to see unless they are large cracks. I may just try swapping valve covers.

 

[wolf20043]

i get oil there too i replaced my oil cap. if the valve cover is cracked does that mean you can see the crack or can it be hard to see

easier to see from the bottom of the cover.
Mike

 

[gameGSX45]

Well, when I had bought my Laser RS, the mechanic had over torqued the cover screws and broke a hole about half the size of a dime in my valve cover inside the spark plug well. That was where all my oil was coming from. JB Weld did the trick.

 

[JDP AWD 1g]

i was pooling mad oil in my valve cover around my spark plugs. you can usually tell if its a crack in the cover or a blow gasket just by where the leak started from, and where its dripping from.

i JB weld'd my valve cover and it held for quite a bit, i finally just got a non turbo VC from a salvage yard, 5 finger discount.....replaced the gasket with the o rings for the wires....and a new oil cap, only problem is on the left side of the VC its missin that peice that slides into the VC, that most people apply an oil catch can too. so at high boost i shoot oil out my VC and onto my HKS UIC ><

 

[sYnOnYx]

i put some RTV Gasket maker around my oilcap , and i never seen another leak or pool of oil in the valve cover again !

 

[tbob2985]

ive had these oil spots on my valve cover since i got it 2 months ago. i just got my oil changed and the spots seem to be getting bigger. i wanted to see if any of you know what causes this and/or do you know who to stop it from leaking like that ( if that is the problem)

 

[JDNSBR]

ive had these oil spots on my valve cover since i got it 2 months ago. i just got my oil changed and the spots seem to be getting bigger. i wanted to see if any of you know what causes this and/or do you know who to stop it from leaking like that ( if that is the problem)

Looks like you need a new oil cap. I would also change the valve cover gasket while I was at it for good measure.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

Leaky oil cap? It seems like the most obvious of all the possible solutions, and probably the easiest to rule out.

http://www.machv.com/mitoemoilcap.html

EDIT: JDNSBR, you beat me to it.

 

[Staytuned]

I'll add this also ....check your PCV to see if it still works too. Could be increasing crank case pressure if it's not.

 

[amaank]

Put some gasket sealer stuff on the valve cover gasket.. did the trick on my friend's bimmer.

 

[tbob2985]

cool thanks a bunch, gonna order that parts this week and hopefully it works

 

[DiamondStarM]

You really only need the oil cap gasket which is about $2 at the dealer...

 

[Andrew Dahms]

I have a 91 Talon TSi Awd. I installed a new valve cover gasket about 4 months ago and have recently been noticing small amounts of oil in the valve cover. I work at Ford and so asked them what the problem is. At first they said it was the oil cap so I put on a new one and am still experiencing problems. They then said a new valve cover gasket would solve it. I havent tried that yet because we noticed that oil was spraying out of the oil filler when it was running. I dont know how much oil the cams shoot out but it seemed like it was spraying more than it should. Now some think its blow-by from the crankcase(pcv valve is fine). Any ideas?

 

[ROOKIE1]

Had same problem before . Turned out I over tightened the valve cover bolts . The ones next to the spark plug wells . Cracked the cover . May be same case with you . Not very sturdy in center section .

 

[ECLIPSE4x4]

Yeah, sounds like a cracked valve cover to me as well. They don't like to be tighted to hard.

 

[Andrew Dahms]

That would account for the oil spraying out of the oil filler too?

 

[Strm Trpr]

I hope that when you replaced your valve cover gasket, you replaced the half moon seal, the sparkplug well gaskets, and the VC seal as well.
The VC screws are torqued to some in*lbs value.
Get a Haynes Manual if you don't have one, they're priceless.

So, you're saying that when your engine is idling and you remove your oil cap, oil is spraying out of the opening in the valve cover?
You say the PCV checked out, how do you know this?
Do a compression test and post your values.
If your valve seals are leaking compression into the head, then perhaps that could be the reason you are experiencing the oil spray.

You shouldn't see enough oil in the head to spray anything, perhaps the oil drain isn't flowing properly and allowing excessive oil accumulation in the head.

 

[Andrew Dahms]

I ordered my vc gasket from mopar and it didnt have the half moon seal so i just reused the old one (probably dumb on my part). Neither did I replace the plug well gaskets.
Now my mechanic friend checked the pcv (the one on the back of the valve cover?) sprayed it out and made sure fluid would only go one way(worked fine). Im assuming I need new pistons because my compression values were 140 +/- 5. I dont remember how much the vc was torqued. Think i just used a 1/4 inch drive and snugged it but I wouldn't be surprised if its cracked. So probably get a new vc and new pistons/rings?