Valve cover oil leak!

[Timl]

1050704

This 90 Cherokee that I just got was leaking oil. The previous owner had receipts where the valve cover gasket had been fixed. I put it on the hoist and sprayed off the bottom and then ran it to find the leak (which I thought was by the oil filter) but there was nothing EXCEPT oil running down the back, off both sides of the bell housing and then getting every where! Pulled the valve cover and found 2 things. 1st they had simply put silicone on the old cork gasket (which was split at the back) 2nd they had scraped most of the silicone off the rear of the valve cover (it was very visible there on the rear rocker arm!) when they put it back on! I cleaned the valve cover up good and used some of the really good black silicone to make my own gasket. I then had someone hold up the throttle cable and carefully put it back on. I had also drained the cooling system (to put a block heater in - it gets cold in North Dakota) so I disconnected the coolant hoses at the front of the head to get them out of the way. Problem fixed!

[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1050784

very nice... i hope my oil leak problem will be fixed as easily...[addsig]

 

[remember5]

1050786

Yet another example of a mechanic who should have his ass kicked. I just bought a Jaguar from a lady who had the radiator replaced ($650) and water pump ($1100) and it wasn't running right so she was selling it. They left one of the coil wires off, an alternator wire, and one side of the v12 throttle linkage was unhooked so it was running basically on 6 cylinders. Its a shame those people are out there ripping people off. Congratulations on doing it yourself.[addsig]

 

[Timl]

1050857

I can't take all the credit! I actually have a sweet deal going for me. I have a good friend who has a 3 stall shop where he runs a repair business (and is one of the rare finds in mechanics - honest and goes the extra mile!) so in exhange for me doing computer work for him he lets me use the shop weekends and after hours and helps on the projects when they are beyond my abilities! Gets me parts at cost and so on! Has helped me keep vehicles running that is for sure! Sort of a team effort if you will. I definetley will NOT recommend the other shop though and will look more carefully at that invoice in the glovebox to see what other "work" they did on the Cherokee![addsig]