Oil everywhere!

[watermellon]

Wow! Seems like I've got quite a job ahead of me. I won't be able to work on the car until at least Tuesday. I'm heading to Manitoba for a few days and I don't want to start something I can't finish today. I don't have a garage and I have to do all my work on the driveway. I picked up a new gasket today and still have some packing to do 'coz I'm leaving first thing Sat. morning.

A few "replies" mentioned I may also have a ventilation problem. I did a bit of hunting around and I discovered leaks can be found by using throttle cleaner, propane gas, stethescope, and even water mist. Are any of these necessary for the problems I have with my car?

Movin you mentioned a baffel inside the valve cover. That must be the metal plate running from just beneath the oil filler cap to where the pvc plugs in. Is that cleaned while the vc is off. And if so how? You also mentioned that some tubes may be carboned up and need cleaning. Are they cleaned by jamming a small rag through them or by spaying a cleaner into them?

Thanks again everyone. I'll keep posting my progress.

[Christ]

Those tests are for vacuum leaks.

Clean the tubes with a flexible pipe cleaner and solvent safe for rubber. Soak the PCV in clean gas and shake it around awhile.

If you pull the VC again, toss it in a parts cleaner our steam it.

[Movin]

^^^ plus one, just making sure air from in the plastic inlet can actually get through
the nipple, through the hose, through the next nipple and the baffles into the crankcase.
Then it has to leave there through the grommet and pcv valve, through the hose, through
the next nipple and into the intake to be burned in the engine. All it takes is just one hose
or nipple plugged and the whole system goes down, and fuel builds up in the oil.
Change the oil when done.

Like christ said use what ever you have that is safe to clean and verify that things flow
good.

[WmWatt]

I've sprayed WD-40 into my PCV valve to clean it. Lubricates it too.

[watermellon]

TROUBLES CONTINUE.

Yesterday, I finally got the v.c. gasket replaced. I re-used the old one by meticulously wiping it clean with kim-wipes and inspecting it closely for any imperfections. I then cleaned the valve cover and the surface it mates to by wiping it with kimwipes and then a final wiping with some brake cleaner sprayed onto a rag. It was clean...very clean.

I cleaned all the hoses that lead into and out of the valve cover along with installing a new pcv valve as recommended by Movin and Christ. I then re-installed all the parts I had taken off the v.c., topped up the oil, and took it for a drive. *Note: there was oil in the large air tube that connects to the air filter housing AND there was even some oil on the lip of the throttle blody opening. I cleaned up that up too.*

Got the car up to 100km/hr and everything seemed ok. When I was driving slow to park the car I noticed it wanted to stall out... and it did when I stopped to back up. I re-started it and I had to keep the revs up to stop it from stalling again.

I popped the hood and checked the engine. There was oil on top of the valve cover. The gasket I installed seems to be holding and I'm suspecting the oil came from the filler cap. The cap was on tight and there was oil around it. I don't know what to do next.

Is it possible the car is kaput, even though it seemed to run ok while on the highway. (I only drove the car about 2kms at highway speed.) I'm at a loss.

[Christ]

Replace your oil cap and try again. THE ONLY PORTS for gasses to exit the block should be the breather and pcv valve, else the system does not work properly.

Time for a compression test, me thinks.

[500dollarfestiva]

PCV

Check your pcv valce

[iceracerdude]

You're not "at a loss" you're just crappy at shooting trouble. Why didn't you just drive all the way to the grand canyon and back, you could have stopped at the halfway mark and at least seen what the grand canyon was up to.
Clean it all up again, and only drive it 100 ft. this time. If no oil present at that point, drive it 200 ft etc. etc, etc. There's no magic to figuring out something like this, just common sense. Once you figure out WHERE the oil's coming from, we can tell you more specifcally the WHY.

[watermellon]

Yah, I know I'm crappy at figuring out what's wrong with my car. That's why I need all the help I can get. I like trying to fix things myself 'cause mechanics here charge from 105 to 135 dollars/hr.

I should've mentioned that before I got up to highway speed, I had pulled over and checked for oil leaks 3 times. Each time there were no leaks and everything seemed ok; however, I had not gone over 60kms/hr. While stopping at red lights and while crawling in traffic, the car ran good. On the short 2 - 3km highway ride home it ran fine. After getting off the highway it was less than a km home, so that's where I checked the oil again and found out that it was leaking again.

[nitrofarm]

I wouldnt take it apart until I knew for sure its the VC gasket. I reccomend cleaning the oil off the top of the motor with engine degreaser & water in a plant sprayer.Then blow dry with compressed air if available. Then let it get up till operating temp (ie fan cylces once). Then use your hand to hold the throttle at cruise rpm while watching for leaks.Def dont take it apart till you know for sure........Should be easy to find the leak once you clean it off right?
edit: There is a "O" Ring that fits under the oil cap.Make sure its there.

You really should read what people post.Its not like we dont have anything better to do.Not trying to bust your chops buuuut....