My oil problem

[drddan]

Man, I think I got a little problem with my festy.
Oil is coming up through my valve cover breather.
I'll make it short. I checked my PCV valve and the vacuum line to it. Both working good, PCV doing its job, LOTS of vacuum on the line, but, here it is, it is still blowing oil out the valve cover breather.
Only thing that would cause that is pressurizing of the crankcase, which includes the upper area of motor up to the v.cover.
Let me give some backstory. It was leaking oil @ v.cover gasket. (original) So i changed the gasket, painted cover..etc....pretty much when this oil started appearing.
I THINK IT IS A HEAD GASKET.
See, when the old gasket was there, it appeared as just an oil leak, but now that I have the new gasket the v. cover is "sealed", thus the oil now blowing up the breather, as the pressure is greater than what the PCV can evacuate.
Well, thats my theory anyway.
No water in oil, no white coolant smoke @ tailpipe
Got anyother thoughts that may cause the oil blowing upward thru the V. cover breather?
Could a burnt valve blow upwards thru valve seal and pressurize it?
I'm wondering how long this has been like this. I think the new gasket made it show up.
Any ideas would be great.
Thanks, Dan

[WmWatt]

First time I took my valve cover off and turned it upside down I saw carbon buildup above the #3 exhaust valve. A compression test confirmed low pressure in the #3 cyclinder. Fortunately it was crystallized carbon which an oil addiditve dissolved and compression returned to normal. I then checked the adjusted on the valves.

There should be a short hose from the air cleaner to the valve cover which you can remove and test for pressure with a finger while the engine is running. You could also reach back to the throttle and race the engine with your finger over the hole if you want.

[Biff]

Worn out rings, broken rings?
My first was this way, and is what brought me to this site!