How many of you all have the drivers side valve cover leak? I did a search and this appears to be a fairly common problem on the N.A. model, but not so much on the SRT (from what I have found).

I realize they are the same valve covers, so it is likely just not as common because there are so few SRTs.

Anyhow, I pulled the car in the garage this friday and heard the air pump kick on like it always does at stop lights, etc. Well, when this happened, I saw a very small amount of smoke so I opened the hood really quick to try to find the source and noticed the oil filter housing or the valve cover has a TINY leak, just enough to wet the metal (not even form a 'drip'). The oil has slowly made its way down to the exhaust manifold, hence the smoke. When the air pump kicked in, I guess it moved enough air to force the smoke out of the engine bay and allow me to see it.

So, who else has had this valve cover/filter housing leak? My neighbor is a MB Tech at our local MB dealer and said it is very common on the 112 motor because of the fact that the filter housing uses RTV only. He said it's easy enough that he'd fix it for free if I don't want to mess with the dealer...

SQ

 

This is exactly what had happened on the first srt6 i test drove before buying mine.

 

I had some seepage on both sides - just enough to discolor the valve cover on the driver side and even less on the passenger side. It was wicking from the small gasket under the oil fill opening / breather tube cover.

Clean and tightened did the trick for me. Especially the small torx screw forward of the oil fill opening.

 

noticed it on mine, havn't had the chance to correct it yet.

 

Brian,

I'm planning to give that a shot. I did my best to wipe the area clean to see just how much is weeping. It is so minimal that I'm surprised it made it down onto the manifold.

SQ

 

Gotta love these hand crafted engines!

 

I'd rather it seep a little bit of oil than consume a few quarts a month

 

Have not noticed it but will look closer. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

That is true!

 

I didn't notice mine until I pulled the belt cover off to do my intake.

 

Same here. I had it done under warranty while having a "B" service. They replaced 3 coil packs too as they were soaked in oil (Drivers side).

 

did they have to be replaced just cause they were soaked in oil...

I had some spilling of oil on the engine bay a few days ago, but retighting the oil filter did the trick for me.. but there is some oil left on the bottom of the engine.. can this cause any problems?

 

Anybody have a pic of the area we are discussing here? TIA.

 

The oil on mine is so minimal it wont show up in pics.

Look directly below the oil fill and oil filter areas. Mine was just barely stained with the color of the oil until I wiped it clean.

It is on the front drivers side of the engine, where the valve cover meets the cyl heads..

SQ

 

That 0-40 oil is so thin is probably doesn't take much for it to start to bleed through a slight gasket imperfection. Was Mobile 1 10-30 really such a bad thing? My Evo always found 10-30 to its liking.

 

just checked out my car today and it is smoking as well! I don't know if I should try to tighten the bolt or take it to the dealer? My car has no intercooler system at the moment as I am finishing up my custom isolated design. Ugggh, looks like I might have to wait another week to drive my car.

 

You can try to tighten the bolt, but unless you know what a torque wrench is, the difference between dry and wet torque values, etc, then don't do it. These valve covers are magnesium - not the strongest stuff in the world!!!

 

A couple of point to cover you have raised:

1) My coil packs were replace as they were "soaked" with oil and caused my idle to become lumpy.

2) My drivers side it the opposite side to you lot over the big lake.

 

I didn't even think about that!

I'll have to look at my passenger side really well.

For the record, there is no where near enough oil leaking on mine to wet the coil packs.

SQ

 

I was changing the oil Sat morning and noticed the leak getting a little worse, stopped by the MB dealer for a set of gaskets (I'm not leaving it at the dealers for this) and discovered that no gaskets are used, just black "surface sealing" or "Flachendichtung" on the tube. I purchased the 1.7 oz tube at the MB dealer for $20.

Part number is - A 003 989 98 20 10 - but I'm sure any high temp gasket sealant will work - I just didn't have any left at home (damn trim job) so what the heck..