Bocatrip

I've noticed that periodically I can smell oil fumes in the interior of my car. It's far from constant or intolerable. I have 122,000 miles and both Valve Cover gaskets were changed with in the last year and the engine compartment and floor are dry of any oil. Are there any other vulnerable parts that need to be examined or changed? Is there a PCV valve in our cars that can be a culprit? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

911LE

Did you put any silicone on the rear semi circle plugs when you did the valve covers ? The factory service manual says to use some where the plugs, head, and valve cover gasket meet. You could have a small leak in the back and not see it.

Brewmyown

Remove the two 10mm nuts and pop the engine cover off and check that the PVC valve grommet is not worn and leaking. While you're at it, check that the pcv valve is working as it should. When you give it a shake it should rattle easily. If not clean and check the operation of it using the process below. It can leak and travel towards the rear of the motor. That was a source of a leak on my car. I found the pictures below showing the location on the web.

Bocatrip

Thanks Brewmyown for the info. I took the cover off and looked at the location. It's a little tight in there and I feel since all the hoses are very old and dry, if I remove them and check the valve I might have to replace the hoses and/or replace the valve. I do see that the PCV valve is not sitting flush to the grommet on the valve cover. Not sure if that might be the problem or the grommet is brittle and has play. I decided to leave all alone for the time being and see if I could pick up a new PCV valve and grommet before I proceed. I did give my independent all the grommets needed when he replaced the valve cover gasket last year, but I don't have total confidence he changed them. I won't take a chance of replacing the PCV grommet for fear it might break off and fall inside the engine..

MRLexus90

Make sure he torqued all the cam cover bolts to 53 Inch Pounds. I had that occasional smell and found all my cam cover bolts were very loose. It is a 2001 UL with the original gaskets. After tightening, I used my garden pump sprayer with simple green in it, took it and my leaf blower with me to the car wash, sprayed the bottom sides and back of the engine block, up to the cam covers, with cleaner, let it sit a bit, and used low pressure spot-free-rinse to clean off all the oil residue that had leaked down the sides and back, particularly to the exhaust manifolds--that is where the burning is most likely taking place. As the engine bay area is very sensitive to water, use a leaf blower to dry off as much of the water as possible before starting it up again. This worked for me.

Bocatrip

All Valve cover bolts are loose after this many miles. Mine were too when my Valve covers were leaking. I did tighten them but after a short term it started leaking again. There are number of posts about this. Be assured it's not a short cut to replacing the valve cover gaskets. Old is old and they will need replacing as well as all the grommets and spark plug seals.

zapola6

I have a 01 Base, Currently have 216K on the clock.

I could smell the oil burning a couple of months ago, each valve cover bolt was only finger tight. Tightened them all down, Oil burning smell is now gone. It will be interesting to see how long that just tightening up the valve covers will last....

mrboca

The bolts get loose because the grommets harden and flatten over time with engine heat. Overtightening also overflattens the rubbery grommet material, so proper torque is important. Once the grommets are flattened completely, more tightening will not help. When we replaced the valve cover gaskets due to oil leak we noticed that the passenger side closest to the firewall spark plug tube had some oil in it. I believe the oil got in there through the tube seals, due to loose valve cover bolts.. It takes few drops of burning oil to create a strong smell.