Oil burn smell - significance?

Maintenance/Repairs
21

you have your opinion and I have mine. Almost 100% of threads have various opinions.

22

My 2003 ford F150 had a manufacturing problem where debris caused the head gasket to leak oil onto the exhaust system. Not a whole lot of oil leaks, but it got bad enough I could not drive without the windows open. There was a TSB about it but no warranty fix.
About 4 years ago the mechanic put in a piece of steel to divert the oil away from the manifold, been fine ever since.
Just suggesting if it is a head gasket, it does not have to be oem and perfect.

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23

Sounds like a statement, not an opinion

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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24

Iā€™ve personally experienced an external head gasket oil leak and had no other problems/symptoms.

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25

Thereā€™s no such part named ā€œhead cover gasketā€. The gaskets in that area are the ā€œvalve cover gasketā€ and the ā€œhead gasketā€. No way to know via the internet which gasket is causing your problem, but Iā€™ve had to replace the valve cover gasket on my similar vintage to yours Corolla 2 or 3 times over the years b/c of leaks that drop onto something hot and create an odor or drip oil onto the driveway. Iā€™ve never had to replace the head gasket. On the Corolla 4afe engine replacing the valve cover gasket is maybe a 1-1.5 hour job for diyā€™er me, very easy to do since everything is right there within standing up reach. The new gasket set I think costs about $30. Itā€™s often not possible to tell where an oil leak is coming from visually, so it would make more sense in my way of thinking to replace the valve cover gasket first, and see if that stops the leak. On my Corolla I notice the lack of oil drips on the driveway within 2 days.

26

What is commonly known as a valve cover Honda calls a ā€œhead coverā€. Some manufactures call it a camshaft cover.

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27

I guess technically a valve cover is a head cover if you think about it, since it is a cover that covers the head. But that sort of nomenclature is confusing when thereā€™s another gasket called the head gasket.

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28

After reading Nevadaā€™s interesting point, I looked mine up. Toyota calls my ā€œvalve coverā€ the
COVER, SUB-ASSY, CYLINDER HEAD

Nomenclatures vary so much that itā€™s fruitless to be debating them.
I wish ā€œscionfā€ (the OP) would tell us what vehicle heā€™s addressing; year, make, & model. If itā€™s a Toyota or Scion I could post an exploded view drawing with part numbers and we could all be on the same page.

OP?

29

I think it is a 1987 Acura Integra that he thinks is worth a lot of money.

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30

ā€¦and the cylinder head cover has been leaking for 17 years.

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31

OP?

  • the %&^&$% 10 mandatory integersā€¦ :imp:
32

Wow here is the genius who can get into other peopleā€™s mind - then trolls on valuation when everyone is talking about repair!

The handle ā€œVOLVO_V70ā€ might be telling ā€¦!

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33

So, scionf, what pray-tell IS the year, make, and model of the car?

34

1987 Acura Integra LS Auto 170k miles

35

Thanks for the info.
Unfortunately, I was unable to access an exploded-view drawing, which might have helped to ensure that we were actually all referring to the same part. It might also have served to clearly illustrate to you what weā€™re alluding to. I use drawings offered by OEM parts providers, but because of the age of the vehicle I was unable to get one. The sites that Iā€™m familiar with that offer these drawings offer almost no parts for vehicles that age. Sorry.

However, I think weā€™re all really referring to the valvecover gasket as a high-probability primary cause with a possibility (but much lower probability) of a headgasket breech. The age of the vehicle also raises possibilities (with reasonably high probability) of camshaft and crankshaft seals too, but the valvecover gasket is the best first choice. The burning oil may be acrid, but engines do not die because oil is seeping past tired seals. They only die if the level is allowed to get too low, causing seizure of the bearings and/or scarring of the cylinder walls.

36

Thanks @the_same_mountainbik

Correct me if I am wrong but the head gasket looks different from Valve cover from these pictures:

  1. Head
    http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/shop_years/acura-integra-cylinder-head-gasket-1987.html

  2. Valve Cover
    https://www.acurapartswarehouse.com/oem-acura-valve-cover-gasket.html?Make=Acura&Model=Integra&Year=1987&Submodel=&Filter=(bt=4%2C8;et=1%2C1)

I know I was told that the seepage is from Head gasket back in 2000 but it stopped after using high mileage engine oil.

I have changed several gasket recently (some are typical to this engine - eg small rubber band like gaskets - a few of them) - engine oil pan gasket; When the timing belt was done, they changed all the related rubber/gasket/

37

I agree with Volvo

I remember a discussion, where OP was convinced that . . . for some unclear reason, in my opinion . . . his Acura was worth a lot of money. But some of us tried to convince him that it wasnā€™t the case. To no avail :frowning:

38

Could you help us stay focused on the topic - this would be big a help ( moreover yourā€™s is unsubstantiated)

39

Unsubstantiated . . . I think not

I remember that previous discussion very well

40

You are correct that the headgasket and the valvecover gasket are different things.

The head is the assembly that holds the valves, camshafts, and closes/seals the top of the combustion chambers. Itā€™s a critical part of the combustion chamber as well as a critical assembly of the engine.

The valvecover only covers the valvetrain assembly; the camshafts, rockers, and that stuff and retains oil that gets splashed around by the camshafts and rockers. Itā€™s basically a cover and a mounting surface for some parts, nothing more.

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