[opelgtman1973]

I just replaced my tired old Solex with a Weber, and it's tuned up and running great. No complaints there.

However, now I have a major problem with oil leaking from the valve cover gasket onto the manifold, causing a lot of smoking. I don't see any smoke coming from the exhaust. It's just leaking out and burning in the engine compartment. It's not too bad at idle, but gets worse at higher RPMs. The valve cover gasket has always leaked and needs to be replaced, but it's gone from an annoyance to a smoky mess just since installing the Weber.

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the Weber. What I also did at the same time was:

- Installed all new vacuum and fuel lines
- Eliminated the line going from the cannister to the float bowl (I realize this needs to vent to the air cleaner, as I've read in another thread, but it seems that the issue there is gas fumes)
- Installed a new Weber air cleaner that sits on top of the carb
- Installed new PCV lines (big one from the valve cover to the air cleaner and little one to the manifold)

I'm suspecting that the last item may be the culprit, but I'm not familiar enough with the PCV system on this engine to understand why. Previously, the big line and little line were both loose and seaped a little bit of oil. The new lines are very tight and there's no leakage there at all.

Is it possible now that the PCV connections are nice and tight, the leaky valve cover gasket has too much pressure for it, and needs to be replaced immediately?

I'm also wondering if I maybe pushed in the big line too far into the valve cover (it went in farther than the old one did) and dislodged something (aren't there filters in there?).

Lastly, I wonder if the small line's ID is too small. It used to have a 1/4" ID line, that seemed too large, and I replaced it with a 3/16" line.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. It's so frustrating to get the car running great with the Weber, but not be able to drive it because of the oil leak.

 

[nobody]

The big PCV line should only go in about 3/4 of an inch. If it went in too far it could kink down or close off against the other side of the filter area in an aluminum cover.

 

[opelgtman1973]

The old hose only went in about 1/4" or maybe a little more.

Hmm...3/4" sounds pretty close. It could very well be more though, I'll have to check.

 

[opelgtman1973]

Oops...

Well, I'm horrible at estimating

The big PCV hose was in there 2", not 3/4". I'm pretty sure the old one was only in there 1/4", but I've already proven myself wrong once tonight.

Guess it doesn't matter now, huh? I pulled the hose out and put it back in only at 3/4", but it doesn't stop, and could easily go back in to 2". Do you think I screwed something up?

Also, how does this cause the valve cover gasket to leak more than it did before? Could it be that even though I screwed up and pushed the hose in too far, there's something else going on? Like I said, the hose isn't leaking, where it used to seap a little bit. But the valve cover gasket is leaking so much that there's a pool of oil on the manifold.

 

[nobody]

I have a valve cover in the house so I know 3/4 of an inch is right. This is what I would do, blow through the hose with the engine off and hose connected to the valve cover, it should be easy. Then do the same thing with the hose attached to the air cleaner again it should be easy. If you had a leaking valve cover gasket and then plugged your PCV your oil puddle makes perfect sense. It was already going there, with no PCV it got pushed there. It seems to me that I remember there being a wire going through the big PCV line so you couldn't stick it in too far.

 

[MICAH1]

I had a problem simular to yours a while back and found it to be a cracked vale cover where the bolts are torqued. You might also need a new vale cover gasket. If the gasket is dry, brittle, or split, you will lose oil.......

 

[Washout]

To eliminate the problem of locating the hoses correctly on the valve cover I got some brass hose nipples from the hardware store. I taped the valve cover and simply threaded them in. Now the hoses are attached securely and not too deeply. Not my idea, one of the other guys here came up with that.

 

[opelgtman1973]

Thanks guys for confirming my suspicions about the PCV hose. For now, I'm just going to put a wire through the big hose to make sure I don't push it in too far. Hopefully that'll get me by for a few days.

I know the valve cover gasket is bad, so I already ordered one. While I have the cover off I'll check the screen and see if it's okay. I also love the idea about threading in brass hose nipples. I've always had problems with these things leaking. That would do the trick nicely