HELP!!! Leaking Oil Around Valve Cover!!

bluebr65 · Post by **bluebr65** » June 21st, 2005, 9:51 am

Hey all im new to the whole m-3 scene and also new to buying a used vehicle, the mx-3 im looking at seems to be in fine working order except for an oil leak that seems to be coming from around the valve cover gasket, i have read in a couple places that these engines are prone to leak oil later in ther lives. I would like to get the car cleaned up in the engine bay and then completeley examine where the oil is coming from but i dont know if the problem can be worse that it looks. I dont know if i want to get involved to deeply into this problem right now. The engine has 165k and the rest of the car is fully functional and a blast to drive. What should i do, what do i need to do?

nos92mx3 · Post by **nos92mx3** » June 21st, 2005, 10:03 am

What year is the 4 cylinder?
My old sohc still ran strong before i pulled it at 2xx,xxx miles.

bluebr65 · Post by **bluebr65** » June 21st, 2005, 10:18 am

1992 mx-3

jimishadow · Post by **jimishadow** » June 21st, 2005, 10:20 am

chec your pcv valve amd change valve cover gasket and welcome to the forums

plusinfinit · Post by **plusinfinit** » June 21st, 2005, 11:38 am

There is one more spot where oil can leak from and it is easy to fix. The distributor. It is probably easier to relace the Oring at teh distributor than to replace the valve cover gasket. Not that the valve cover gasket is hard.Good luck with buying that car.

azazel95 · Post by **azazel95** » June 21st, 2005, 1:08 pm

Also any respectible dealer will let you take the car to be examined by a mechanic/yourself before you buy it. If they won't let you then go to a different lot cuz something is fishy with that one.