Check your valve cover bolts

[VinnAY]

Lol, you can even see it in GT Pony's image up there. The oil is draining nicely off of the filter and then the foil gets in the way.

Changed my oil today, no special whammy methods and didn't make a mess. :lol:

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[TexasRebel]

Just looked up this thread today after I noted puffs of oil-smelling smoke after coming to a stop on the freeway. Absolutely thought it was related to hot/cold cycle... did anyone at the dealer say anything about that?

No. I wanted to talk to the tech that serviced my car, but I picked it up at 17:25 and everyone had pretty much left... so I never got the chance.

 

[sstone]

For anyone who wants to see something scary, my dealer couldn't find this:

Oops..

 

[sstone]

Cool. https://i.imgur.com/zVVnDeT.jpg

 

[Chummel]

I took my car to the shop for smoke coming out the engine bay. Loose valve cover bolt was the culprit. It was a relief to hear that was the issue, my mind kept going to bad places.

Anybody notice a sound associated with this issue? Mine seems to be making a funny noise, I’m curious if it is related or the onset of a different issue.

 

[highsteaks]

I had the EXACT same experience as OP. My photos would have looked identical. The two bolts by the driver side firewall where loose enough to spin by hand. Don't mean to revive an old post but yes, "Check your valve cover bolts!"

 

[SavonRene]

Last weekend I took a trip to Tail of the Dragon. What a wonderful and great trip it was, especially in my new 5.0! At least until day 3 of the trip when I started the car in the morning to warm it up and was met with smoke from under the hood and the strong odor of burning oil.
At first, I could not figure out what the cause of this was. I checked my oil, it was about 1 to 1.5 quarts low. Topped it off and went on my way after she stopped smoking. Next morning, same issue. I get the car up on jack stands, crawl under and am met with a decent amount of oil coming down the side of the bell housing and also running down the exhaust and dripping off the header on bank 2.
I spent the next couple minutes trying to pinpoint where this oil was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from the corner of the valve cover so I went top side to check the bolts and sure enough the bolt on the corner closest to the firewall was completely loose. Of course there was no room for tools in this area of the engine so I spend the next 15 minutes making slow progress by tightening the bolt with a small wrench. After getting the bolt all tight and cleaning the oil, my problem went away.

I took the car to the dealership this morning to document my issue and have a tech check over everything. He confirmed it was no longer leaking oil but they did order me a new valve cover gasket.

I just experienced this problem, thank you for posting. As soon as my car warmed up I would get smoke coming from the engine bay and the smell of burning oil. The valve cover bolt near the firewall on the driver side could be turned by hand. Tightened all bolts and the leak stopped. Did you ever replace the cover or gasket?

Thanks,

 

[jeffrt]

My car was in last week, with oil visible on the right side manifold, almost exactly the same as the earlier pics. Gasket was replaced, and all is good now. Had a burning oil smell for a few weeks before if got bad enough to finally spot the leak. Didn't check the bolts for tightness, just took it in.

 

[ENPhoto]

Bumping an old thread.

Had a strong smell of burning oil (almost like an old diesel) that was very prevalent when coming to a stop and during idle. Once I got to work, I got out and saw smoke coming out near the passenger headlight.

Valve cover bolts were loose on passenger side.

Removed the battery, battery box and metal framing to get easier access to the bolt near the firewall.

Can see the oil drip/burn marks at the header in the pics.

A hint of the smell during my drive home after fixing...should be gone once it's all burnt off after another drive cycle or two.

 

[BmacIL]

Bumping an old thread.

Had a strong smell of burning oil (almost like an old diesel) that was very prevalent when coming to a stop and during idle. Once I got to work, I got out and saw smoke coming out near the passenger headlight.

Valve cover bolts were loose on passenger side.

Removed the battery, battery box and metal framing to get easier access to the bolt near the firewall.

Can see the oil drip/burn marks at the header in the pics.

A hint of the smell during my drive home after fixing...should be gone once it's all burnt off after another drive cycle or two.

I just started getting this recently. Did you fix it just tightening the bolts?

 

[jacknifetoaswan]

I had this pop up on my Coyote a few weeks ago, and Jones Ford replaced the valve cover gaskets on both sides under the 5/60 power train warranty. Ten days later, it started again, so she's back at the dealer now. Nothing like dealership quality...

Oil is leaking from what looks like the front passenger spark plug hole, same as last time.

JR

 

[Cobra Jet]

Here’s the Ford TSB... apparently the 5.0 valve covers should have had MORE bolts than how they were assembled at the factory:

 

[GT Pony]

Here’s the Ford TSB... apparently the 5.0 valve covers should have had MORE bolts than how they were assembled at the factory:

I read the TSB (thanks for posting @Cobra Jet), and compared the info to my 2015 GT. My GT does have a bolt at the front of the valve cover, but doesn't have the 4 missing bolts on the sides. So my valve covers are missing 4 bolts per cover, not 5 bolts on each valve cover like the TSB shows.

So I wonder if there are some Coyotes that are actually missing 5 bolts per cover like the TSB shows? Or is the TSB wrong?

If some Coyotes are actually missing 5 bolts on each cover, maybe those are the most likely to leak?

 

[jacknifetoaswan]

Here’s the Ford TSB... apparently the 5.0 valve covers should have had MORE bolts than how they were assembled at the factory:

Thank you! My car is still sitting at the dealership, and I'm going to call when they open to ask them to assess the engine against this TSB.

JR

 

[Lime1GT]

Just checked my 17 GT. Yup, valve cover bolts missing as well. No leaks yet and I'll do the fix myself if needed. So the TSB reads to me like all valve covers are missing a quantity of bolts but only "some" vehicles may have an oil leak from the covers which the TSB will fix under warranty. Sure seems like they tried to save a few bucks again; sort of like the engines away back they decided to only machine 3 threads into the cylinder head for spark plug threads.

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