Hi all. I haven't posted to this forum in quite some time. I previously had a 94 Maxima, but had to get rid of it when the transmission went. Last year I was fortunate enough to purchase a 2003 GLE, and even though it had nearly 200 thousand miles on it, it runs like a top. The car had a fairly significant oil leak around the valve cover when I bought it. After consulting with the mechanic that was going to be doing the work, I opted to buy new valve covers along with the valve cover gaskets and intake gasket. The thought process was that because they are plastic valve covers there might be a hairline crack somewhere. That was fine, it was not a huge expense. Less than a week after I got all of that replaced it started leaking on one side of the front valve cover. Shortly after, the leak grew to the entire width of the front valve cover and the rear was starting to leak as well. It is now leaking from just about everywhere imaginable. There is smoke comes from under the hood when I shut the car off. I replaced the alternator in February and just last week the new one went out. When the mechanic pulled it off of there it was coated in oil. The parts store said they would take it on the warranty this one time, but not again if it was due to oil.
The mechanic told me that I have a severe oil leak on the back side of the engine, somewhere up high. He said the engine is building pressure and blowing gaskets and seals. He is baffled by it. He said he cleaned out the pcv valve so that shouldn't be the issue. The car runs and drives great as long I keep pouring oil into it.
Does anyone have any idea why it is building pressure like it is? Is it something that can be fixed?

 

Are you using rtv? I guess that doesn't matter if pressure is blowing the gasket out but you should be using rtv on the corners.

Are the hoses connected to the valve covers? There should be one from the rear valve cover that goes to the front and then another from the front back to the intake. If these are hooked up and not blocked off I don't see how you're building pressure

Unless we are talking about oil pressure, and I'll let someone with more knowledge chime in there

The pcv valve by the way is only a couple dollars, I've never heard of anyone cleaning it

 

I will look about the hoses, but I don't recall seeing any hoses on there. To the best of my knowledge there is no rtv on there, but I could be mistaken. Thanks for the input, at least it gives me somewhere to start.

 

You need to put RTV in key spots before installing.

 

Remove oil cap and see how much blowby comes out. Then you'll know if engine is already ruined from precats.

Delete PCV, regardless.