head gasket or valve cover gasket

[mattster]

well guys i have all the bad signs. white smoke, oil in the spark plug wells, and possibly i sense a loss in horsepower. my car has been running this way for quite a while now and i just started noticing these things. i have researched this site and found that it is probably either the head or valve cover gasket or even maybe the rings. the oil is only in the front bank wells so i think that the rear head is ok. i am hoping that it's only the valve cover because i know how much work goes into replacing the head gasket.<p>on another note: i am really starting to hate my car. i bought it with 60,000 miles and in 1.5 years, only 15,000 miles, i have had to replace the timing belt, half shafts, clutch, now possibly some gaskets, and just last week my windshield cracked! blah, blah, blah poor me.

[zytariuk]

The car is over a decade old, what do you expect? I've experienced the same problems with my 92' GS.

[jpwmx3]

To give you an idea of how good our cars can be, I have not spent a dime on my engine in the past year, putting 25000km on it with 351000km on the OD.

[Hy300]

I bought mine with 116,000 miles, same clutch as factory, and full records which told me it had regular maintainance at all the scheduled times. She runs like a dream and I'm going to tear her down to clean out some of the internals and she'll be good for another 50,000 miles. Though I'll clean her again before that.<p>The work a car will need is dependant upon the last driver and the conditions she sees. Never blame the car, blame the driver

[mattster]

whatever hy300. <p>anybody going to answer my question tho?

[992mmx3]

Hy300 wasn't blaming you as a driver, he was just saying the previous one may have been hard on it. Sounds like your valve cover gasket is going out, its not uncommon on the earlier 90's mazda's, or mitsubishi's, and some chevy's. Get a new one for a few bucks at shmucks, torque it down to specs, and you should be good. if you need to, go and get a compression test and have a mechanic look it over.

[blkmx3_v6]

i changed my gaskets for about $200 and now i dont worry about pulling a dry oil stick very much worth it, takes about a day...might get the car back the same day if you bring it early, I let mines spend the night, they steam cleaned the engine.

[mattster]

i guess i did maybe read that post wrong... i thought that he was trying to dis me as a driver, or how i maintain my car. do you really think that it is only the valve cover gasket? because that would be a real easy job compared to the head gasket. i own a compression testor so i really shouldn't be to hard to test. anyway i will keep you all updated.