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Valve Cover Gasket Leaks & Possible Intake Leaks

mechguy

mechguy

Poppin 'em thangs
Hello,

I have an 03 GTP that has approx 100k miles and has experienced at MINIMUM 5 valve cover gasket (VCG) replacements. I say at minimum, because I only have vehicle history dating to 2006ish. The car had total GM protection plan (what a waste of money.....I digress) until about 95k miles. When I bought the car at about 90k miles, the rear VCG was immediately replaced under warranty and I mentioned to them that it was time to consider the LIM gaskets because that may be an issue. The dealership commented with, and I am quoting directly from the repair order, "some seepage normal" in regards to the IM inspection. So in short, they replaced the rear VCG and declined to touch the LIM, probobly because my warranty was expiring very soon.

Fast forward to today, when I was installing my short ram intake in place of the factory airbox. I noticed standing pools of oil in the valleys on top of the intake manifold, next to the blower. I belive this is from leaking VCGs again.

What options do I have? I think the crappy plastic covers are just shot. They are warped below each bolt from stress. Replacing the VGC only is not going to help for long, so I think I will do the IM gaskets (to rule that possibility out) and consider replacing the covers themselves with gaskets. Does this seem reasonable? I have to check my financial situation...
 


Are you sure the pools are oil? Usually fluid pooling there is coolant. Every car I have seen it on, it was dirty and could be mistaken for oil if looking quickly. Failed intake manifold gaskets will leak coolant into the area you describe. I have never seen a failed valve cover gasket leak oil so bad to cause pools on the higher side of the valve cover.
 
The valve covers should not be warped under the bolts. This is because the bolts have sleeves on them and can not be tightened to break the cover. This is where the grommet comes in. The bolt pushes on the grommet and the grommet applies pressure to the valve cover gasket. The VC's do have a bit of an odd shape to them and can look funny.

On the LIM puddles. GM sealed the threads of the bolts holding the LIM on, because they protrude into coolant and oil passages. It is common for those sealed bolts to begin seeping fluid up onto the manifold. This is probably the info they noted on the inspection. Try cleaning the motor well and see if the seepage returns. If so, I'd recommend having someone do the LIM's and as part of the process they should reseal the bolts by cleaning them and adding a sealer with ptfe in it.
 
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