Check your valve cover bolts

[TinyTim93]

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.

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[Ron Avery]

Thanks good to know.
Ron

 

[Asharus]

what's your car's blend date?

 

[Asharus]

reading is fundamental

edit: aww the post i was replying to was deleted

 

[RSKTAKR]

reading is fundamental

:lol::lol:


I was pulling my coil pack covers off the other day and noticed that the hose that is on the passenger side of the car (PCV hose I thing.. where a catch can would normally be) had leaked oil down the valve cover to where I couldn't even see it anymore so I'm SURE it has also run down the side of the motor. I will be bringing that up at my next oil change.

 

[Ryan1112]

I just took my car to the dealer today for this. There was smoke coming from the hood vent and I could see that the smoke was coming off the header when I popped the hood. The dealer called me a few minutes ago and said they were ordering a new valve cover gasket.

 

[15 Stang]

I just took my car to the dealer today for this. There was smoke coming from the hood vent and I could see that the smoke was coming off the header when I popped the hood. The dealer called me a few minutes ago and said they were ordering a new valve cover gasket.

The dealer doesn't have a valve cover gasket in stock? That's like not having a hose or a belt in stock. Is there stock room a closet?

 

[DrDing.Muscle]

Good to know. I will check mine when I am under the hood next.

 

[Ryan1112]

The dealer doesn't have a valve cover gasket in stock? That's like not having a hose or a belt in stock. Is there stock room a closet?

I wondered about that myself. They said the part should be in Monday morning so I should have the car back Monday. It's not my daily driver so I'll survive. I hate walking out into the garage and not seeing it there.

 

[cechk01]

gahhh I am having this issue too. discovered it because of smoke coming from the engine and burning oil smell

 

[RIBS]

TinyTim93-

Mine has a small run of oil on the far back outside corner on the passenger side, oil is running past the last exhaust header on the passenger side. Is that where yours was?.

 

[cechk01]

TinyTim93-

Mine has a small run of oil on the far back outside corner on the passenger side, oil is running past the last exhaust header on the passenger side. Is that where yours was?.

Mine was far back on the driver side

 

[2morrow]

I just found this on the pass. side. Gonna make a call tomorrow AM.

 

[TexasRebel]

Took mine in this morning...

Seems to be the same, my trail down the driver side exhaust looked almost identical to Tim's, but not nearly as severe...

I wonder if it was a hot/cold cycle issue.

 

[ElAviator72]

Had an oil leak in my Ecoboost. Was coming off of the timing chain cover. Took it to the dealer under warranty. They replaced the timing chain cover gasket (which apparently involves pulling off both the oil pan and the valve cover, and requires locking the camshafts with a keeper tool-got this from the service order) and it seems to have solved the problem. I searched for a TSB on this in the Ecoboost, as I seem to recall a few other forum members having the same issue on the 2016 Ecoboosts (the leak looks like it's coming from the "knob" casting on the timing chain cover). Just another issue to be aware of ;)

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