Strange place for oil

[gdlgiii]

I notice that every 4 -5 weeks I have to top off the jeep because it looses about a quart of oil in over a month.
I noticed on the driver's side below the valve cover there is a lot of old caked oil and on the passenger side it is not. Here are some pics.
I noticed toward the front of the engine it looks like there could be oil coming from the back of t he harmonic balancer.

I can smell no buring oil when jeep has been running a while and no white smoke from tailpipe. Oil doesnt show to be milky so not t hinking its a cracked head. Had one shop tell me cylnd head gasket was cracked and got 2 other opionins from different places and they all said no. But they all agreed t he water puimp WAS (replaced) bad.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

The valve cover gaskets are known to begin leaking at the rear of the engine. I'm a little surprised you haven't smelled burning oil when you pause at a stop sign or red light - but maybe since so much oil is caked on the exhaust manifold you don't get the sudden smoke.

The driver's side valve cover gasket is the easier of the two to change but the passenger side isn't too bad once the heater core hoses are removed.

Bob

 

[gdlgiii]

Hmm. I have replaced valve cover gaskets on my Dodge Ram and wasn't too bad.. wonder how difficult that would be to do? Do I have to drain the coolant again? Things had the coolant fluished and drained 2 times in one month because I replaced hoses once then water pump went out 2 weeks later.

 

[Kirksjeep]

Hmm. I have replaced valve cover gaskets on my Dodge Ram and wasn't too bad.. wonder how difficult that would be to do? Do I have to drain the coolant again? Things had the coolant fluished and drained 2 times in one month because I replaced hoses once then water pump went out 2 weeks later.

I just finished replacing the valve covers about 2 weeks ago. I lost about a pint of coolant during the job. If you are careful when pulling the coolant over flow you won't loose much. I did need to remove the heater hoses completely, just disconnected them from the firewall and slide them out of the way. I think I broke every plastic clip required to get the valve covers off, but nothing some zip ties and tape couldn't fix.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

Hmm. I have replaced valve cover gaskets on my Dodge Ram and wasn't too bad.. wonder how difficult that would be to do? Do I have to drain the coolant again? Things had the coolant fluished and drained 2 times in one month because I replaced hoses once then water pump went out 2 weeks later.

If you're replacing the drivers side only you won't lose any coolant. If you're careful on the passenger side you'll only lose a very small amount. Remove the hoses from the coolant reservoir and plug them with a small bolt.

Hint: When working with the the heater core hoses remove the oil filler neck and leave the heater hoses attached to it. Take the the hoses off the inlet and outlet. That :favorites68: clip that holds the hoses together is nearly impossible to unhook so just remove the filler neck instead.

Bob