Rear valve cover surprise
09-13-2017, 01:35 PM
#1
Supporting Maxima.org Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 232
Rear valve cover surprise
I replaced my rear valve cover last night. The job went without incident, although I haven't started the car yet since I'm waiting for the RTV to cure.
5 years ago, when I replaced my plugs at 100K, 2 of my spark plug tubes in the rear valve cover were full of oil. Since I wasn't prepared to do anything about the valve cover at that time, I just cleaned out the oil, changed my plugs and left the valve cover alone.
Since the car has recently started to leak oil, I figured the valve cover would be the obvious source. I went with an aftermarket valve cover and an OEM gasket.
Anyway, when I removed the coil packs, all 3 spark plug tubes were completely dry! However, it did look like oil was leaking from the firewall side of the cover.
In addition, when I removed the valve cover, all 3 spark plug seals looked perfectly intact. They weren't dried out, cracked or anything. the whole cover looked good, in fact. Maybe I could have just replaced the gasket. Who knows.
Weird.
Hopefully replacing the cover/gasket will stop the leak.
Not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I just thought I'd pass it along.
5 years ago, when I replaced my plugs at 100K, 2 of my spark plug tubes in the rear valve cover were full of oil. Since I wasn't prepared to do anything about the valve cover at that time, I just cleaned out the oil, changed my plugs and left the valve cover alone.
Since the car has recently started to leak oil, I figured the valve cover would be the obvious source. I went with an aftermarket valve cover and an OEM gasket.
Anyway, when I removed the coil packs, all 3 spark plug tubes were completely dry! However, it did look like oil was leaking from the firewall side of the cover.
In addition, when I removed the valve cover, all 3 spark plug seals looked perfectly intact. They weren't dried out, cracked or anything. the whole cover looked good, in fact. Maybe I could have just replaced the gasket. Who knows.
Weird.
Hopefully replacing the cover/gasket will stop the leak.
Not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I just thought I'd pass it along.
09-14-2017, 09:11 AM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,114
Curious indeed. Sounds like one oil change gone wrong, or another hazard.
I am having a bit of oil leaking into the plug well on one cylinder of my Honda Pilot right now, and going to take care of that once the parts arrive for a valve adjustment job. Only one cylinder, go figure!
I am having a bit of oil leaking into the plug well on one cylinder of my Honda Pilot right now, and going to take care of that once the parts arrive for a valve adjustment job. Only one cylinder, go figure!