I have had an oil leak for quite some time now. It is very hard to locate, I had powerwashed the entire engine underneath and tried to locate it to no avail. Very fast leak I am thinking may be from the valve cover as oil is in the #1 spark plug tube. And my engine blows smoke from oil out the tailpipe after sitting for a while. Let me know what you think.

-M

 

Blue smoke when starting up the car is usually oil, and usually, because the valve guide seals are leaking. It is fairly expensive to fix, and not all that bad. Best to just keep an eye on your oil level.

 

yea as said above blue smoke out the tail after sitting is from worn out valve seals. BTW how often are you changing the oil and with what weight.

is the oil leaking onto the ground or are you just noticing a loss of oil level?

 

if the tube has oil in it, you need to change your spark plug tube seals. I had the same problem and changed the seals and the rear valve cover gasket. Problem solved! no more oil on the ground in the mornings. when you're re seating the valve cover, be sure to put some silicone sealant on the rear/left corner closest to the passenger side or it will leak from that point.

 

yeah, my cylinder 1 tube has oil in it. I think my shop messed up the spark plug tube seal while changing my rear valve cover gasket.

 

The oil leak is large. I put at least a quart every three weeks in. I will put a new valve cover gasket on this week. 2pb: does the flange by the passenger side not adequately meet to prevent a leak? And was the leak hard to spot from that point, because I can not see it seeping out. One last question, did you have smoke out the tailpipe from the oil in the spark plug tube, because after sitting my car will do that. I believe that is the cause because cleaning the oil out of it reduced the amount of smoke. I just hope it is not a piston ring or something.

 

the liquid gasket must be applied at the points noted in this diagram from the FSM:
http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ocedurejy3.jpg

I'm not really sure why it will leak, the cover meets up just fine, but it will leak if you skip the silicone Looking from the top of the engine, the leak will be pretty hard to spot. I confirmed that my leak was form the rear valve cover gasket by stuffing my hand back there and feeling around when the engine was cold - it came out full of oil! My plug tubes were not full of oil; I caught the problem before it ballooned out of control - there was some oil on my plugs, though. I don't think the damage to my tube seals was significant enough to cause a smoke show.

This is another diagram that may help with removing things:
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?i...diagrammj2.jpg

 

I have fixed the oil leak inside spark plug wells. My problem was on the firewall side of engine. At first, I used after market tube seals. It made leak again 3 days later. I did again, again, and again. Finally I ordered OEM seal with RTV blue silicon. I did again. Now it is fine.

The parts what you would need

1 - OEM spark plug tube seals.
1 - Valve cover gasket from autozone.
1 - Carburator cleaner.
1 - RTV silicon
1 - Flat wood stick from dunkin dounuts for appliying silicon.
1 - Utility knife to remove old silicon.

Here is what I did.
1. Take the valve cover off from the engine block
2. Cleaned the inside of valve cover and engine block in which the cover has to be up with carburator cleaner.
3. Cleaned PVC valve too.
4. Remove the old left silicon with utility knife and cleaner.
5. Apply the RTV silicon with any flat stick on the valve cover trough(wating about 15 min.)
6. Put the new gesket into valve cover.
7. Apply the RTV to the engine block(10 min.).
8. Assembly them.

If you see the smok when you finished the job, it means you are done. The smoke was for 5~10 min in my case. The crucial point is that you should check the seal holds the spark plug well column. Put your finger inside the well and compare normal to where you replace the seal.

Thanks.

 

i heard its also good to change the oil pretty soon after doing this because the silicone has a tendency to mix in with the oil, and lol silicone is not a lubricant ...

 

my 95 maxima smokes sometimes after sitting a while, just as his does, only the smoke that comes out isn't blue its white. could that still mean its burning oil? or somthing else?

 

white smoke would mean that you're burning coolant...NOT GOOD

 

Here's an update: I have taken the intake and valve cover off, and now am ready to begin reinstallation tomorrow because I am tired. I looked at the rightmost (drivers view) part of the valve cover gasket closest to the firewall and saw where the oil was seeping through. There is a black streak across the surface where it should be shiny metal, and at least one of the spark plug seals had a crack that i can see. They all were hard as rock, which I am guessing should not be. the cams look in very good shape, everything looks like it never got too low on oil. I might take a picture or something... This will be such a relief if it fixes my issues. Thanks for the advice all, I will let you know.

 

Make double sure it is not blueish, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference. Check your coolant levels also, and see if they are dropping, this could mean that it is for sure a coolant issue. Also, burning coolant has a somewhat sweet smell to it, so try and take a whiff. You might also want to check the spark plug tubes for oil, this was my issue. Good luck.

-M

 

sounds like you're in the home stretch. My seals were also hard and almost brittle. great job man, thanks for keeping us updated, too.

 

Everything is back together, I am just waiting for the RTV to set. We'll see tomorrow if this pain in the as$ is gone or not.