Blown Valve Cover Gaskets?????
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 360
Likes: 0
From: Katy, TX
Blown Valve Cover Gaskets????? On my way home, both my valve cover gaskets blew. 
I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. I was cruising in 6th, when some white smoke blew through the A/C. Before I could get off the road, another puff of white smoke came through the A/C. I immediately turned off the A/C and got to a parking lot ASAP. No lights were thrown, nor did the car act weird. I popped the hood to see both valve cover gaskets hanging out (top portion). WTF causes that? I'm guessing excessive crank pressure, but I can't think of what would have caused it. I should note that the car started missing under load a couple days ago. I've been extremely busy and haven't had a chance to pull the plugs. I had no choice but to drive it today and babied it. It felt like I was partially holding in the clutch under 2k RPMs. Above that, it ran fine as long as I didn't get heavy on the pedal. I'm not going to drive it until I et it fixed, but what should I be looking for?
I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. I was cruising in 6th, when some white smoke blew through the A/C. Before I could get off the road, another puff of white smoke came through the A/C. I immediately turned off the A/C and got to a parking lot ASAP. No lights were thrown, nor did the car act weird. I popped the hood to see both valve cover gaskets hanging out (top portion). WTF causes that? I'm guessing excessive crank pressure, but I can't think of what would have caused it. I should note that the car started missing under load a couple days ago. I've been extremely busy and haven't had a chance to pull the plugs. I had no choice but to drive it today and babied it. It felt like I was partially holding in the clutch under 2k RPMs. Above that, it ran fine as long as I didn't get heavy on the pedal. I'm not going to drive it until I et it fixed, but what should I be looking for? Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 360
Likes: 0
From: Katy, TX
I should also note that I changed my oil last week. I use the same WIC filter and Mobil 1 10/30 I always do. After that, the oil pressure would get up to 80 PSI under normal acceleration. I don't go more than about 15% throttle under normal driving. It used to get up to 60 PSI. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the old oil that came out. There was also no foreign objects in the filter as far as I can tell. I always fill the new one up before screwing it on.
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 360
Likes: 0
From: Katy, TX
The PCV is hooked up. I don't have any valve cover breathers or anything. It's a Fast 90/90, if that matters. The last time I cleaned my air filter, I noticed oil residue on the throttle blade. I wonder if the PCV got clogged. I'll check it in the morning.
