So, after my 3 day 00vi swap, my rear valve cover (using a 5th gen one) is leaking oil. Now it's only leaking oil from a small spot on the back of the cover, the annoying part is that the oil drips onto the exhaust manifold and burns making my car smoke.

So the question is, is there a way of fixing/sealing the leak WITHOUT taking everything apart again? I would rather not disconnect the harness, take off the TB, all the hoses, take off the Upper manifold, just to get to the leak. Though it can be done if need be.

 

your best bet is going to be removing everything

 

However, I will say this in order to play devil's advocate. As long as your crankcase ventilation is working properly, the crankcase should be close to atmospheric pressure. I suppose you could let the car sit for awhile(let gravity pull the oil off the top of the engine as much as possible), clean the area that is leaking really well with isopropyl or something, and then use rtv to cover the small area that is leaking letting it cure completely. This isn't ideal, but if you don't have time to take it apart and you can get your hand in there I say why not try? If it doesn't work, you can clean up the mess when you pull the IM again.

 

That would work. I just give the "right" answer. If it works though, it will save you some time and money

 

Use RTV One Minute Gasket on the leaking spot. This should have been done when you originally put the gasket in, as I did with my MEVI. The easiest way would be removing the UIM, but I would try to do without doing that at first and see what happens.