Leaking oil

[LukeZ]

"leaking" might be an understatement. Its a little worse than that. She leaked a few drops every now and then if I let the car sit for a month while I'm at school, but its a different situation now.

This is a recent problem, within the last couple weeks. Started after I swapped my intake. I just want to narrow this down to what it might be so that I can get this fixed.

I know Texas82GP gave me a good idea awhile back about hooking my crankcase breather tube up to my new heightened air cleaner. I haven't gotten around to that yet. Right now its just sticking out of the valve cover with a foam filter on the end. Is that a problem? Does it need vacuum drawn by the air cleaner or something? Would this cause a leak? The foam doesn't even have a lot of oil on it.

I don't think it has anything to do with the PCV. It's sucking really good and I have it connected to to carb.

It's not the oil filter or oil drain plug.

The intake is on tight, so I don't think that's it either.

I just tightened my valve cover bolts (they weren't that tight. The wrench was easy to turn) so hopefully that helps. I actually snapped one so that really sucks. I couldn't mess with it anymore because the university maintenance guys came up and told me that you can't work on your car on UD property.

Are valve covers supposed to have gaskets? Maybe mine had them before but they just corroded away to nothing. Can I use RTV to seal them up when I go home later this week?

 

[pontiacgp]

valve covers need gaskets and without them the oil would be pouring out and very visible. Did you use a gasket for your distributor and check the intake at the back and front to make sure it's not leaking there. You might want to pick up a book on engines and read that through so you have a better idea on what you are doing instead of having to ask about issues after the job is done.

 

[L67ss]

Put cardboard under the car to get a good idea where the leak is

 

[LukeZ]

Yes, the distributor has a gasket. I didnt get a good look at the back of the intake so Ill check that out next time I see my car. The oil isnt gushing out of the valve covers while I have the car running or anything. L67ss, Ill try the cardboard thing this weekend. Like I said, the car dripped before, but now its at the point where its concerning me. I checked the oil level and its still at full.

One funny thing is the guy at Advanced Auto told me that my car only takes 4 quarts of oil (according to the computer) the last time i bought oil to do a change. They never mentioned that to me before, and I always buy the 5 quart containers. I never paid attention to it in the past, but maybe I have too much oil?

 

[Texas82GP]

Your car takes 5 quarts of oil. You need valve cover gaskets for sure. Also, you will have to extract the broken bolt. Without gaskets and all the bolts, the valve covers will leak. You could put them on with just RTV but I advise against it.

 

[LukeZ]

Your car takes 5 quarts of oil. You need valve cover gaskets for sure. Also, you will have to extract the broken bolt. Without gaskets and all the bolts, the valve covers will leak. You could put them on with just RTV but I advise against it.

I thought it was 5. Thanks. And the way it looks, the threaded stud that broke is like a part of the head. The valve covers slide on over the 4 studs, and the bolt just goes on over the lip of the valve cover to hold them down. The stud broke in half, so now there is only a little bit left for me to get the bolt to grab on to, once I get the broken part of the stud out of the bolt. Jeez, theres always something lol

 

[Texas82GP]

I thought it was 5. Thanks. And the way it looks, the threaded stud that broke is like a part of the head. The valve covers slide on over the 4 studs, and the bolt just goes on over the lip of the valve cover to hold them down. The stud broke in half, so now there is only a little bit left for me to get the bolt to grab on to, once I get the broken part of the stud out of the bolt. Jeez, theres always something lol

It's a stud threaded into the cylinder head. The valve cover goes over the stud and then is retained by a nut. You need to extract the broken stud and replace it. I would get a nice used stud and nut from a member on here.

 

[pontiacgp]

it's 4 quarts without the filter and 5 quarts with a filter

 

[TURNA]

When you put the intake on did you use the rubber gaskets for the front and rear that came with it or did you use an RTV or both?

 

[LukeZ]

When you put the intake on did you use the rubber gaskets for the front and rear that came with it or did you use an RTV or both?

just rtv