What's this hole for? (Valve cover drain hole)

[crtalon]

Hi guys, I have been a silent reader for a very long
time. It is time for me to ask a question.

Background:I am in the process of heli-coiling my head. All the
studs are out, none broke in the head. The problem is that I by
mistake drilled into one of the holes too far. I know that cut into
the wall slightly because I can stick a zip-tie into the hole and it
goes down in all the way(the zip-tie is like 2x the length of the
hole) The hole is on the bottom row, the one in the middle.

I really didn't want to pull the valve cover just to see what is in
back of that wall I destroyed. I want to say that it is a hole for
a valve cover bolt, but who knows. I figured that one of you may
know. Just in case any of you are curious, yes this is my 1st heli-
coil job, yes I now have to step to all 10mm bolts, and yes I am in
the middle of a turbo install(ETE32)

Thanks a million!
Bruce

 

[oldman]

umm.. I don't have that hole, curious to find out.

 

[IHeartTurbo]

I've never seen one there.

 

[olmytsi]

Its just to vent the spark plug area. Lots of people plug them cause they tend to make a mess. Mine isnt plugged and it hasnt bothered me.

 

[Defiant]

It's a water drain for when you wash the engine, and an oil drain for when you miss the filler hole, or for when the 71O cap gasket starts leaking two weeks after being replaced.

 

[eclipsegsx97979]

can the small pin size hole on the valve cover on the right front side be plugged? and without any probs?


thanks,

kevin

 

[theebluecrx]

If its the front of the valvecover it shouldnt be plugged.Its meant to drain the oil when the spark plug area gets filled(from a bad oil cap) so it doesnt get into the plugs.

 

[tsirider13]

hey guys , this might be my second time posting on here, my name is manuel and i am from toronto.
i was looking for an answer to my problem in my local board but i could not find it,
here is the problem: there is two little holes/breathers on the valve cover , one is in the sparkplug collector by the the number one cylinder and the other one is like facing the alternator on the other side, is like it was just drilled trought, they are like 2mm holes.

well the thing is that i have oil coming from the hole close to the number one cylinder,
when i am under boost,there is not a crack on the valve cover since i replace it 3 times. the first one was cracked the second one i cracked and the one i have now it its just fine the engine is built so is the head maybe 8k miles on both of them,
there is not oil coming from the dipstick at all, could this be blow-by?
oh forgot to mention that there is not smoke coming from under the hood, everything seems fine but for the oil coming from that hole.

anyone with similar experiences?
i will appreciate all the inputs/help you guys give me.
-manuel

 

[romeen]

I do know which hole you are talking about as I have wondered about it myself before. I dont know what its purpose is but I can tell you that I have never seen any oil or anything else coming out of it. I don't think it is for blowby as the PCV and valve cover breather take care of that under vacuum and boost respectively.
Does it look like motor oil or condensed oily/blowby vapors (less viscous)?

 

[tsirider13]

Yes you are right rommen.
Thanks ,i have fixed already.
It was coming from the spark plug gaskets.
Those two little holes do not "conect" with the inside of the valve cover at all. What i mean is that if you were to try to put something in inside of one of the holes it will come through the other side without ever seeing the inside of the valve cover.

 

[Defiant]

Again, it's just a drain hole for the plug valley between the cams.

 

[alice]

Well, I just bought this valve cover and noticed this hole. I have searched and seen several pics but never seen this little hole. It looks like it's from the factory like this as it does not look like someone drilled it. Anybody have any idea as to what it is and why it's there?

 

[Boosted98gsx]

It's there on every single one. Drain hole for oil...

 

[Plaser]

thats not on mine..

 

[Boosted98gsx]

Then you fail.

 

[steve]

Actually I think it was put there to make sure that any water then might collect in the spark plug well can drain out. It's not in all rocket covers. IIRC, It's another one of the improvements made between 90 and 91.

 

[Plaser]

ya see they didnt have that in '90, boosted98gsx!!

 

[turboglenn]

... a friend of mine called me kind of worried about his car thinking some one had drilled a hole in his before he got it. I told him to bring it over and i looked and that's what it was. I had no idea that it went all the way through though until he brought it to my attention, i just assumed it was a casting mark of sorts.

 

[4Motion4g63]

My car has it.....

 

[jake247]

they are not on the hyundai valve covers either.

that's what I get for upgrading, a mess.

 

[Defiant]

You should be fine without it. It has nothing to do with how the engine runs. Perhaps Hyundai thought it was just as well to have a little mess instead of pouring an oil leak onto the exhaust manifold.

 

[DARKTSI]

my valve cover is leaking oil out trough a little hole on the driver side ...is the hole supposed to be there both the valve covers i have have it......how come its leaking oil now it didnt used to do it...now it smokes sometimes

 

[pj91gsx]

I heard that some valve covers have the hole and some dont some people plug it. I guess you can just plug it.

 

[clockworktoy]

No its not suppose to leak from there, and you can either get a new valve cover or just fill up the hole with some JB weld or something similar.

 

[93_tsi_fwd]

thats supposed to be a water/oil drain hole when ex: you wash you motor.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

Well i have a similar problem.. i would just get a new one cause the jb weld didn't hold on mine and now it is just seeping out from the cracks where i plugged it.