After taking my car twice to the "family mechanic" to have him to the worst job ever,I still have oil leaking from the valve covers.My plans are to buy some chrome covers and new seals and take care of the problem once and for all.Now here is when my question comes into play.when i start up my car or floor it when its not hot i get smoke coming out of the tail pipes.A fried told me to remove the valve covers and to stick a long screw driver in a hole under the covers and to try to free up any oil that had built up due to the engine not running for a while.Is this true or should I punch him for being smart with me and stick the screwdriver up his hole?

 

Usually smoke on start up means your need to replace your valve seals or guides I believe. When you get new valve covers, I would recommend Fel-pro gasket and make sure you have or get valve cover hold down plates.

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Your friend is not as stupid as you might think (well, maybe not anyway)... I've run into more than one motor where the oil drainback holes from the space under the valve cover had got blocked by accumulated funk; one such motor had at least a quart of oil stored up in there. There can be so much oil that the valve guides are submerged. There's no way to keep it from burning oil if that happens. The holes in question are near the ends of the heads.

You probably need new valve guide seals like practically all cars with this type of motor, a topic that comes up daily on this BBS. Do a search on those 3 words and see what you get.

Don't get chrome valve covers unless you really enjoy leaks. Like the other post said, Fel-Pro gaskets are the ones to get. Use the ones with the part # ending in R, for instance VS12869R for perimeter-bolt valve covers.

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