Ok..so I got out of my truck today and my girlfriend noticed it smoking a little bit on the driver's side of the engine bay. I have been smelling a burning kind of smell for a couple days but just thought it was my brakes.

When I popped the hood I noticed a small amount of moisture leaking onto the exhaust right under the valve cover on the driver's side of the engine up next to the fire wall.

Could this be anything other than a leaking head gasket??

Thanks!!

 

Ok...I don't think it is water as i can still see residue on the exhaust.

I checked my valve covers and the bolts were a little loose so I tightened them up...could oil have leaking from there and smoked when it hit the exhaust??

This could also explain why i've been losing around a quart of oil ever 5k miles or so?

Correct me if I'm wrong...if it is/could be the head gasket I'm off work tomorrow and could possibly get it done.

Thanks!!

 

Well, since those bolts are tigthend up, clean up the mess and check back in a couple days and see if the problem continues or stops.

 

It was just the valve cover...all is well.

My mechanic Neil came over and checked it out.

 

Thank goodness it wasn't the HG!

 

I know!!!!

I would have been very surprised if it was though. At 160k that's not a usual problem for yotas.

He's off work the same time I am in a couple of weeks so we are going to do a valve job on my truck. She needs it anyway and I cracked the cover a wee bit when I was tightening it

I cleaned off the surface, sanded it, cleaned it again, and JB welded that sucker. The crack was just on the surface, it didn't go all the way through the valve cover thank goodness!

That's what I get for not waiting for Neil to get to the house and trying to fix something myself! Lessons learned.

I did have the chance to paint my grille black with the same engine paint that I painted my wheels with while I was waiting for Neil though.

Looks GOOD

I'll post pics of it when there is a little more light to be had.

 

My 99 has 130k and it has a blown head gasket, if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all.