I had a very slow oil leak that dripped onto the garage floor and i brought it into the dealership. They said it was a leaking left valve cover gasket; I searched and came up with nothing? The engine has just over 30K miles on it.
View 20 Repliesso I have a 2azfe engine
So there's an oil leak coming from the valve cover gasket (just purchased vehicle dirt cheap with 220k)
found this
Notice all the oil sitting on top of the exhaust mani gasket
In the left(lower) part of the picture it appears to be scraped.
the gasket appears to be newer, I did NOT use a screw driver to remove the valve cover, which is what this appears to have been done..
Can this be sanded down then filled with jb weld, and then regasketed?
I've got a coolant leak here (I wiped away some of it before taking the picture):
Close up
This is the only place I can find coolant leaking and it's running down all the way to the water pump:
When I wiped away from just below the valve cover gasket it flaked right off and it doesn't appear there is any oil mixed in. I changed the oil today and it didn't appear to have any coolant mixed in either.
The coolant doesn't appear to have any oil in it's nice and pink as it should be. I started the car from a cold start and sat and watched the area waiting for it to leak but nothing ever came out, of course.
I know there shouldn't be coolant leaking from this area anyways but I don't know how else to explain the trail pictured. I definitely have a small leak somewhere as I've found coolant on the floor of the garage before.
Do I just replace the valve cover gasket and move on or is there something else I should be concerned with here?
I just noticed what appeared to be an oil leak around the valve cover gasket, which the VW dealer has determined to be a defective cam sensor. Apparently the VW parts distribution center in Wisconsin has 530 of these in stock, so it may be a common failure. This is on a 2010 GTI with 28,xxx miles. Thought the community would like to know.
View 2 RepliesSo, when I bought my truck, it leaked oil.....bad. It goes through around 2-3 quarts a week. I needed a vehicle, this one was cheap, so...I run it. Every other day, I put half a tank of gas and a couple quarts of oil in it. It leaks on the passenger side, right above the starter. I figured it was the valve cover gasket, and planned on changing it today. I saw a post about the "typical" head gasket oil leak, which sound suspiciously like what mine is doing. I have no oil in the coolant,or vice-versa.....
View 9 RepliesLooking for some insight into the state of the motor in a 2002 XD. Short story is that it appears to be leaking oil from the valve cover gasket (common, I know) and sometimes winds up running extremely low on oil before it gets changed. When draining the minimal oil in these conditions, non insignificant amounts of water can be found along with the drained oil.
Car is at 155k miles, has exhibited this behavior for more than a year, and has no noticeable knocking issues, power loss, mpg loss, heating/cooling issues, or any other ill effects other than apparently making a mess in the engine bay, on the ground where it parks, and scaring people when draining the oil.
Logically this is going to not be the case forever.... Thoughts? Prognosis? Treatment?
I'm suspecting a small valve cover gasket leak. I've noticed dirt starting to accumulate near the alternator side of the front valve cover, there is dirt on there stuck to oil, I don't see any wet oil but its so minor the dirt just sticks to it. 107k miles here. Seems to be a common problem. I think Downhiller had a large oil leak, source unknown around his crank pulley area. You wouldn't think a car this young would leak oil. It's not bad, I havn't had to top any off I just like a mildly clean engine.
View 38 RepliesI bought the little car to get off my motorcycle and its done great. But, after a couple trips around town my check engine light came on, and I imiditely noticed a change in my idle and engine performance. Im assuming my engine changed the air/fuel ratio to account for the sensor indications. My initial code read came back with four codes which said something about spark, and O2 sensor, and emissions. I went ahead put new spark plugs, gaped them as well as replaced the first O2 sensor.
After that I reconnected my battery and sure enough no engine light and my idle felt even better than before. (by the way my old plugs looked normal) But shortly down the road the light came on again. My idle did become a little different but not like my first encounter with the engine light. My power too seems a bit degraded, as well as the engine's sound. As of right now I am only reading one code P0422, which I do not see in the manual. I read online that its probably my catalytic converter or my engine is running at an improper air/fuel ratio. I am praying that it is not my catalytic converter and just my engine computer throwing things off.
Other things which may serve as clues:
Slight valve cover gasket leak (I will change the gasket when I do my timing belt job along with other seal and probably the water pump)
When pumping gas I can get about 90 cents in at a time, now more like 40 cents since the Saudis lowered our gas prices. Assuming I've got some kind of venting problem.
Car has 107K manual shift.
when replacing valve cover gasket, using the cork based one. Do you use any gasket sealant or any kind of silicone or just put it in by its self.
View 5 RepliesSo I'll be taking on a project to replace the valve cover gasket on my 2002 Camry V6. There's a bit of leakage through the gasket. And while I'm at it, I'll replace the spark plugs as well. I'm looking for a write up on this project. did a lot of searching but couldn't find anything.
View 14 RepliesI have a 99 passat 2.8 v6, that closing on 200k miles, and its a car i'd really like to keep, lately i've had a few leaks coming from valve cover gasket, which i replaced, and now from the front drivers cam, and the rear passenger cam, the smell is terrible and the smoke is worse, i clean out the pcv but its still happening, i talked to a mechanic he says with that many miles i should just do the timing belt and get the seals done.
View 19 RepliesHow difficult is it to replace the valve cover gasket on a 2001 Santa Fe with a 2.7? Can I just do the 'front' valve cover? Are there any tutorials with plenty of pictures while doing this?
View 4 RepliesMy son-in-law came by tonight and showed me his ticket from his oil change at the dealer on his '08 Azera, 108k miles. Tech remarked that both valve cover gaskets AND the oil pan gasket were leaking. I've walked through his garage many times when my daughter has the car at work and I've never noticed any oil on the floor. Should have I seen any? I told dealer I would just drive it and monitor the oil level and any other signs of oil leakage. Since he bought the car with 101k miles and a fresh oil change ticket and never checked the level over the next 7k miles I don't think it's leaking bad.
View 2 RepliesA few days ago I noticed some oil leaking from the left (front) valve cover area and I suspect it's the gasket. Fortunately, I didn't see any leaks from the back cover. It seemed like an easy job to replace the gasket, but as I started to disconnect the wiring, e.g., cam sensor, spark plugs, etc., I can't seem to find a way to remove the black plastic wiring harness 'housing' out of the way.
View 1 RepliesHow to replace valve cover gaskets on 2002 430sc???
View 14 RepliesI did a valve cover gasket replacement. Changed all spark plugs and coilpacks. The car is still misfiring. I also just did the timing belt and water pump. Why it's still misfiring?? I'm new to this whole forum thing so bear with me lol. I'm wondering if it would be my cat, fuel pump, fuel filter. Or could it be a sensor?
View 2 RepliesChanging the valve cover gasket on the 4 cylinder 2.4l. I was going to change mine's. Didn't know if there are any special tips like sealant to be used, loosening bolt sequence or tightening sequence, torque values.
View 9 RepliesA couple of days ago, I was driving my car around when the oil pressure light came on. Having recently changed the oil myself, I figured I had neglected to tighten something down there and it had become loose and was leaking oil. I stopped at two different shops. Both shops told me the leak was coming from the valve cover gasket. Instead of paying $200 for them to replace it, I did it myself. I didn't use any sealant or silicone, or anything like that. The old gasket was hard as a rock and had some sort of red cement around it.
After I had everything back together, I had a partner start the car for me. The oil leak has become much worse--probably a quart a minute. The thing is... I can't see any oil leaking from the valve cover gasket. You would think that an oil leak of that volume would be visible if it were coming from the top of the engine, no? We're going to take the gasket off again to inspect and perhaps use some gasket sealant in select spots, per some YouTube videos we watched.
Replaced this gasket that seems to be leaking oil. Looks simple enough, is there anything i should do or know before taking on this job? It's a 2002 Accent GS 1.5L ....
View 8 RepliesI'm thinking of purchasing a 2001 GLX VR6 Jetta with lots of deferred maintenance (shocks/struts, brakes, exhaust). Most worryingly, the valve cover gasket is leaking oil. The price is pretty low, but is such a beast worthwhile at any price or is it better parted out? And the interior is about as beat up as the mechanical--screeching passenger window motor, broken glove compartment ... Is this thing worth being brought back to life?
View 6 RepliesAfter taking my 2001 Toyota Tacoma into my Toyota dealer for a routine oil change they informed me that I had a leaky valve cover gasket and that it needed to be replaced. The repair would have been expensive, and since it was just a leak I decided to not make the repair. I have been driving with the "leak" since May of 2013 and have put about 29,000 miles on the truck. I have never had to add oil. There is no oil spot on the concrete where I park the car and I do not smell burning oil when the truck is running. If this thing is leaking, what the heck is leaking out of it? And if I haven't had to add oil or any other fluids do I even need to replace it?
View 14 Replies