Smoke/Oil Leak in Rear of engine?

[97SHOgt]

I noticed after I pulled into my driveway some smoke coming from the passenger side of the car. I popped the hood to see where it was coming from and it was definitely the rear of the engine but I couldn't see from where. I looked under the car though and there was oil running down the exhaust and that was causing the smoke. From what I can tell without actually being able to see is it could be the valve cover gasket. How much life do you usually get out of these on a Gen III? Is there any way other than taking the intake off to see if this is the problem? I hate to ask this but how much fun is this going to be to fix if this is the case? Lately I just can't win with this car...

 

[Funmart6]

Yeah, I know what ya mean, my car has been in a transmission shop for a month now..... anyway, the intake is not too hard to remove, hardest part are those rear support brackets. Can't tell you about the valve cover though, sorry, never had to do that, (yet anyway).
Here is a good write up about removing the intake. Scroll down to "changing the spark plugs".

http://www.geocities.com/firesho/

 

[gen3performance]

i would check the power steering pump and then turn the steering wheel to the left the whole way and look behind the passenger side tire and check your front main seal (bottom cam on the motor )to make sure that that is not where its coming from or any other seals on that side of the motor.

how bad is the leak ? how many miles are on the car ? the valve cover gaskets are not hard to change, if that is where it is coming from. i haven't heard anything about this on here but the front main seals leak after so long.(all cars driven hard) i would also check you oil pane gasket and you trans pane gasket. just so you can pin point where it is coming from. you can check these with out taking anything off you car. so i would check all those first before taking you ITM off

 

[97SHOgt]

I did notice before I popped the hood that the smoke seemed to be coming from the pssenger side wheel well, then when I popped the hood I noticed the smokle coming from the rear of the engine. I crawled under and looked and saw it was dripping on the exhaust, right where the oxygen sensor is on the pipe coming from the front of the engine.

The car has 142,000 miles on it, and I rarely drive the car hard. The oil pan gasket was changed at about 100,000 miles and the the transmission gasket seemed to be fine when I replaced the filter. Thank you for the responses so far. I will have to check thos spots.

The problem is I live in Cincinnati in an apartment and I cannot work on the car there. No no matter what it is it is going to have to wait until Thanksgiving weekend for me to tear into it because that is the next time I will be home.

 

[SHOZ123]

If it's the valve cover it would be OK until you can get to it. If it's the PS it will last until it blows then it's over until you get it fixed.

When putting the valve cover bolts back in they do not need to be tightened very much. In fact they will bottom out ant you need to stop or you will break them off.

All that is needed is some minor amounts of silicone gasket sealer where the timing cover and head meet. Otherwise just clean things up good and reinstall.

 

[97SHOgt]

If it's the valve cover it would be OK until you can get to it. If it's the PS it will last until it blows then it's over until you get it fixed.

When putting the valve cover bolts back in they do not need to be tightened very much. In fact they will bottom out ant you need to stop or you will break them off.

All that is needed is some minor amounts of silicone gasket sealer where the timing cover and head meet. Otherwise just clean things up good and reinstall.

This is probably what I will do over Thanksgiving weekend. The intake probably needs a good cleaning too. I tried to check the other places stated in the other post and didn't see anything. Just by looking at where it is hitting the exhaust I would assume the valve cover. But I'll be able to see a lot more once I get it tore apart.

Hey Paul, what do I need to torque the valve cover bolts too, and anything else you can think of off the top of your head that I could possibly overtighten?

 

[SHOZ123]

Don't even get a torque wrench close to the valve cover bolts. They just bottom out and you are done. All the intake bolts should be gently tightened. I just use a 1/4" drive socket wrench. Don't bother with a torque wrench unless you have a 3/8" drive inch/pound one.