Hey yall I'm new here and this is my first post. I did some searching and didn't find exactly what I was looking for. Anyway I'll get down to it...

There is an oil leak in the back of my engine, and it looks like its coming from that oil plate/passageway thing right under the valve cover. My entire bell housing is covered, and everything underneath this plate. Is there a gasket for this thing? I went into the good auto parts store around here with REAL experts, and they couldn't find anything relating to it.

Does anyone have any pictures, or part numbers of what I'm talking about?

 

Could have a tear in your head gasket. Maybe valve cover gasket.

Have you checked your oil and coolant, to see if either one is getting mixed with the other? One in the other will probably confirm a blown HG.

 

I've only had the truck for 5 days, and its not fully registered yet because it won't pass smog. I'm working on that part. But the oil seems fine, and the coolant seems ok too. Once I can actually drive it around, I'll know for sure.

But I'm just wondering if there is a gasket for that part I'm talking about.

 

Maybe you could open up this picture in paint or photoshop, and draw an arrow to where it's coming from.



If it's between the blue and silver, that'd be the valve cover. If between the silver and black, that'd be the head.

 

It's definitely not on that picture. It's on the back of the engine, very close to the firewall. It's attached to the back of the head.

 

Shoot, I don't have any pics of the back of the block... Maybe you could go out and take a picture and post it up here?

Freeze plug?

 

Dang, I can't find any pics either. There is no way to photograph this part because it is like 1 inch away from the firewall, so i can't get a camera in there. I'll keep looking for info.

 

I'm pretty sure that plate just covers coolant passages, I don't believe there is any oil passing through it. My guess would be your valve cover gasket is leaking and dripping down on to it. Pull your valve cover and see if the gasket is torn or cracked back there and if it is obvious that oil is escaping that way. Plus that should give you a slightly better view. And if that plate does have oil leaking from it then there should be a gasket but if you take it off, clean both surfaces and are generous with some high temp silicone you should be fine without one.

 

I hope it is something as easy as the valve cover gasket. Now that I think about it, that plate is very very close the that rear half-circle rubber gasket. It could be from that. I'll inspect it further tomorrow. Thanks for the help guys!

 

Change the valve cover gasket first. Then check it again

 

The plate you are mentioning is the EGR plate..which routes the exhaust gas around the head to the intake..there should be no oil in there..if it was it would burn and smoke like crazy!

 

It's not the EGR. I took care of that. I'm in the process of buying a new one cuz mine is bad. That plate I'm seeing may just be covering those coolant pipes. I'll investigate further this evening

 

The plate back ther under the valve cover bolts to the head with 5 bolts. About 2 and a half inches by 5 inches.It has a raised semi-round looking port that is cast into it..EGR goes through that, on the other side is coolant..NO OIL.

 

Ahhh... my bad. Valve cover gasket it is

 

Ok, so I was right to begin with. There is a plate on the rear of the cylinder head that is a coolant passage, but also has oil passages in it. My friend had an extra gasket and gave it to me. However, I'm replacing my valve cover gasket anyway, just for good measure.

 

Who called it?

Glad it was the valve cover and not the HG.

 

FYI, there is a half-circle "gasket" on the front and rear of the head. These gaskets seal off the semi-circular access holes for the cam shaft. These rubber gaskets often get stiff and create an oil leak. The rear one leaks more often because it gets a little hotter. Since the engine normally sits a little tilted to the rear, a poorly sealing rear gaskset will leak more oil on the rear of the engine while the front one may not leak at all.

Bottom line, when you're replacing the valve cover gasket, consider also replacing these two rubber disks. Don't forget to use a JUDICIOUS amount of high-temp RTV on the round gaskets.

 

AND don't tighten the valve cover too much. The four nuts need to be barely over finger tight. I tighten those nuts with the tips of two fingers on a 6" box wrench and still worry about over-tightening the nuts.

THose four rubber grommets should barely be bulging at all.

 

Oh I know. I already bought the whole grommet and half circle gasket set along with some high temp RTV. This valve cover gasket now is SO bad. I cleaned off my head and bell housing, and in 10 minutes of driving they were both dirty again

 

everywhere I go, the valve cover gasket set comes with the valve cover gasket and 4 grommets and 2 half-circle plugs.