I just noticed this last night. I went out and checked the oil this morning, seems fine. Idle is fine, no strange sounds coming from engine. Driving has been fine also. What else should I check for? Does this look like something to be worry about? The strange this is, I really can't tell where its coming from. It looks like it was splashed with oil, but it hasnt been. I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but it is wet also, it is not just a stain....







The scratches on the valve cover are from an accindent the car was in about 4months ago when the hood buckled up.......


Modified by sickSOLvtec at 6:27 PM 10/14/2003

 

i see xxx's

 

 

I can only see x's as well. I'm assuming though by what you said that the valve cover has an area or area's that look wet right??

If so it's called an engine sweat. You engine has seals in it over time those seals get old and dry and start to shrink therefore allowing oil to seep out. It starts off as a sweat then turns into a minor leak then gets worse and worse. You can either use an Engine Seal conditioner which allows those seals to grow back to there regular size or you can replace the seals which is your best bet.

 

pics fixed, yahoo was being weird for some reason....

 

Its hard to tell from the photos, cant really see the oil. It might just be that you need a new valve cover gasket and that is really easy to fix.

I noticed there is a lot of oxidation on the head, has the car been sitting a while?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CIVIC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If so it's called an engine sweat. You engine has seals in it over time those seals get old and dry and start to shrink therefore allowing oil to seep out. It starts off as a sweat then turns into a minor leak then gets worse and worse. You can either use an Engine Seal conditioner which allows those seals to grow back to there regular size or you can replace the seals which is your best bet.</TD></TR></TABLE>


What seals are you talking about? Valve cover gasket? End cam shaft seal?

What's all that oxidation about??

 

Sorry should have been more clear my bad. I'm talking about the valve cover gasket as well as the Cam seals.

The conditioner I am talking about is only a cheap temporary fix. To fix it completely you should replace the seals.

B series oil leaks from the cam seal is very common. Sometime you will notice oil leaking down by where your engine code is stamped which is the most common area.

When I upgraded my cams I changed the timing belt,valvetrain, waterpump and the seals.

 

All I can say about the oxidation is this. I bought the car in may with only 64,000 miles on it.(It's a 94) The previous owner had ONLY used the car from ~mays to octobers(summer car) So it has seen it's fair share of sitting. It also was off the road for about 2months this summer after the accident.

 

You are talking about the lil 'cap like' seal on the distributor side of the motor, correct?

Is there just that ONE, or a seal for each cam on the dizzy side? I cant remember, I only replaced one on my car.

 

looks like you need to replace some gaskets

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by razor ron &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You are talking about the lil 'cap like' seal on the distributor side of the motor, correct?

Is there just that ONE, or a seal for each cam on the dizzy side? I cant remember, I only replaced one on my car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes that is the one I'm talking about and there is only one of them on the distributer side it's on the exhaust side better known as the cam plug.

There are also cam seals around the cams at the gears.

 

You live near salt water, or it's been exposed to a lot of water... I would clean and keep an eye on it. Your valve gasket in that area might be coming weak, or that happened when the gasket was setting, nothing major.

 

If you look at the last picture, directly in the middle, about 3/4 of the way up, you can see a gash on the valve cover. My buddy and I were looking at it very closely a little whilie ago and it looks like there COULD be a whole in it. So it looks like I should replace valve cover and valve cover gasket and go from there? The end cap looks solid, at least from the outside, and there is NO oil where the block is stamped, or anywhere else except the valve cover...thanks for the help so far

 

"buckled hood" own3d j00?

 

buy a new valve cover!!