Was driving to work this morning when the car starts smoking... I managed to get to work, parked it, and popped the hood. There's oil(still honey colored) all over the driver side firewall and driver exhaust manifold(which was causing it to smoke). I couldn't really tell what happened. What in the world just blew that spewed oil everywhere?

 

valve cover gasket? oil fill cap not secured?

 

Check the rear cam cover if its not the valve covers.

 

1 check oil lvl in engine.. see if with in limits 2 wipe up oil 3 start engine look for leaks

 

Sounds like you blew a valve cover gasket. With that in mind check your PCV valves and maybe replace them if they havn't in a while, they could be clogged. If you valve cover gaksets are good then see if your valve covers were loose and check the rear cam seal.

 

I'm thinking if it got all over the side of the engine bay, IMO its something else. That would take alot of pressure. I have had VC leaks and it doesnt sling it. Just rolls onto manifolds and creates a smoke show.

Check dizzy gasket
vc gaskets
head gasket
pvc hose


I would possibly check other fluids as well.
Does it sputter any now?

 

Is there oil dripping down from the valve covers? When was the last time you changed the oil?

Try, cleaning up the oil around the valve covers, let the engine run and see where its coming from.

 

No oil on valve covers. Last oil change was 300 miles ago(this engine is still in break-in period, it's right about 1300 miles right now).

No sputter. I've never seen a failed valve cover gasket spew oil like this either. It's not exactly on the side of the engine bay, it's on the driver side firewall and driver side exhaust manifold. Something flung the oil back onto the firewall pretty bad; there's not any on the driver wheel well at all.

Engine ran itself dry from how much oil it lost. I'm going to pick up several bottles of oil over lunch just so I can get this thing home(four miles).


Seems I've got several votes for the rear cam seal. Is it possible to see that seal without pulling the engine?

 

Rear cam seal, you have to pull the bellhousing. I dont see how it would get on the firewall.

I would go for dizzy.
Also could go for not sealing up the rear of the intake manifold well enough since its on breakin.
Wonder if the OPSU could have cracked and is spraying at the "right angle" to get it back there? Thats a buttload of pressure!


Clean it up, then have someone start it while you inspect.

 

The OPSU might be an option... I have a mechanical gauge hooked to it and the pressure never dropped, so perhaps not?

The intake is well sealed, last time I was in there. I originally had that problem, with the LIM not being sealed on the block and was losing a ton of vacuum. I replaced the gasket and sealed everything with enough RTV to stick a gator's mouth shut. That was at 50 miles on the rebuild or so. I'll check the dizzy when I get it back home.

 

May sound kind of obvious but i made the mistake of changing the filter and the rubber ring didn't come off with the old 1. Put the new one on and oil shot everywhere.

 

I had a valve cover gasket that blew and spewed oil all over the driver side engine bay and firewall just like the OP is describing.

 

That's interesting. What caused the gasket to blow? I'm using the FelPro rubber ones.

 

Bad PVC valve and cork gaskets.

 

Pushed the car out of the carport tonight to clean the carport... cream colored liquid was under the engine. Head gasket is trashed on the driver side. Have no idea why, since the engine is such low miles.

On the bright side, there's two 3.4s in the junk yard right now.

 

Damn, how many miles was on the engine?

 

1200-1300. Fresh rebuild, that's why I'm so stumped as to what would have caused it to blow.

 

Did you reuse the old bolts?