First of all wanted to say that this site is very, very informative with lots of good members helping out. This will be my first post hopefully of many.

Okay to the problem i just picked up an 86 with an 22re under the hood and yesterday i noticed small amounts of oil on the driveway. the tranny and block was filled with old oil and gunk buildup so i gave it a good pressure wash drove it around and today found out that the oil is coming from right underneath the valve cover gasket by the firewall side. I wiped the moon seal off let it run but it was dry afterwards. i noticed that there were oil that was dripping onto the coolant line back there and that there was some kind of cover there also that had oil on it im not sure what its called or does but if anyone can understand me and please shine some light on this. The coolant line that is getting oil on looks to be the aluminum part and right above that is the cover im talking about. thanks.

 

I think the coolant line you are referring to is actually the air injection tubes that bolt on top of the exhaust manifold. As for the cover(makes an s turn) i think that is a coolant passage.Most likely the oil is coming from the valve cover gasket and moon seal. I myself have a small leak from there, you can see the oil slipping from the top of the moon seals. I hope that helps but hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, since i myself am new at this.
Welcome to the forum.

 

yeah i hope so but ill put up pictures later if it sounds kind of confusing.

 

ok i found a similar thread here but there was no ending that. well i think that cover im talking about is the egr cooler. theres plenty of oil dripping down from the bottom of that but hardly any one the moon plug. could there be oil coming from elsewhere other than the valve cover in that area?

 

first off it is an 86, so there is no air injection tubes. the cast iron cover that is fastened down by four bolts is the coolant and egr bypass. If you have an oil leak in that area it is most likely the half moon gasket but could be your valve cover gasket. RTV silicone will fix either and is vary cheap.

 

Kiroshu quote is priceless!

 

For some perspective of what you're dealing with back there, here's what the back of my carbed '86 looked like.

Most likely your leak is from either the valve cover gasket or the half moon. You can see how a leak at the bottom of the moon would run down over the rear cover.

I'd begin by replacing the valve cover gasket and the moons. Clean everything off well with brake cleaner or such and use some RTV on the bottom of each moon. Mine looks messy because I had the stuff on my fingers when I set it in place when the engine was in. You don't need to use very much RTV. A thin bead is enough. I used Permatex Ultra Gray.

 

From what i've read in these forums they are air injection tubes. I know because my truck was manufactured in Dec 1986 as an 1987 model and does have the tubes.

 

Thanks FlyingBrass! exactly what i was looking for. imma change it out tonight when i get home from work. i really hope its just the moon cover and not the head gasket.

 

cool thanks guys changed my valve cover gasket and the half moons and everything looks fine now no more drips.