valve cover gasket vs head gasket

[oneway]

is that the samething? Sorry - I spend most of time on fixing my motorcycle and know very little about my truck....but learning it.

Midas just told me it's a $450 job to replace the valve cover gasket and degrease the engine. My check oil light came on for the first time (Mar 2010) since owning this truck (Nov 2009) and I literally had a drop of oil on the dip stick. I was due for an oil change anyway, so I drove it directly to Midas (very slowly) and made it there fine - got the oil changed and everything. It does leak oil pretty bad. The guy at MIDAS exact words were, "there clearly is oil pouring out of the valve cover" I'm not blowing smoke anywhere and she starts and runs fine though.

The sticker under the hood near the hood latch says to use 10w for the oil - but the Midas is using 5w. Could a thicker weight oil cause the leaking to stop....since it's thicker?

My oil pressure gauge didn't go down though - is the oil pressure and oil level governed by 2 different things? I'm thinkin if you have no oil = you would have no pressure. And sometimes, the gauge will go way up, just to the end of the "L" in NORMAL...then a few days later, it'll be in the middle....then slightly back up...then back down to the middle so forth and so on.

I also had a new thermostat installed - but (while driving) the temp gauge still reads below NORMAL (cold) sometimes it'll get to the "N" in NORMAL - but most of the time it's way below. It'll move while driving...but then drop back down. It's possesed!!! lol. The only time the temp gauge would stay just at the "N" or slightly above was during a blizzard we just had (Northern Virginia) when it was below freezing outside.

I have a tapping/clicking sound that gets louder as I accelerate - then gets quiet once in Overdrive - could that be an exhaust leak? It's definitely coming from under hood somewheres and not the back. I have very slow acceleration from a stop - but she'll stand up if I put the pedal to the floor.

Finally - I noticed some red fluid leaking from the front. I looked underneath and there are 2 hoses right under the fan and they have drops of red fluid hanging from them. Is that brake fluid, transmission, power steering? I did have to pour some fluid into the power steering resevior. The level of the liquid was down at the bottom of the neck and the truck made a whining noise when I would turn the wheel.

Sorry for the long post - i know it pisses some ppl off

[aarnwts]

your valve cover is bolted to your heads! replace the valve cover gasket its what 6 screws at most on each side! save 430 bucks lol. I will never let a shop touch my truck. thats why! And I would intsall your own guages! these trucks are notorious for electrical problems why not put your own in that way you know they work! Dont let your b2 overheat shel blow a head fast!

[clem]

Your valve cover is the thing you put oil in, the head is under that it houses the valves, you can degrease the engine with some " off the shelf '' degreaser, then do the valve gaskets yourself. If you have a auto tranny you got two lines that go to the rad to cool the trans oil, these sometimes leak, trans fluid is reddish, being down in trans fluid will cause slippage when you take off, you'll rev up some buy not feel any go. The 2.9 L engine is known for the lifter knock, less at low idle and will increase with revs, go back to 10w30 and add some lucus oil treatment, it will help. Your oil light will come on before you lose oil pressure, the low oil sensor is above the pick up so it will come on before you lose all pressure. What temp thermostat did you install? they come in different temps, I liked mine running a little cool, better than over heating when off roading. Good luck. -Jeff

[oneway]

Thanks for the feedback guys. If that's where the valve gasket it, then yea...I have tons of oil around those bolts. There is no way I can do the work myself (damn wish I could). My entire tool cabinet is chock full of motorcycle tools. I wish some of you guys were closer to help. I'm obviously no stranger to putting in work or getting dirty, motorcycles can be equally time consuming. I have the parts in the truck incase I find someone that can help. lol so I'm prepared.

great, so now I have to wait till all the 5w leaks out until I can switch to 10w

as far as the type of thermostat - I'm unsure. It was whatever the Advanced Auto Parts sells for like $5-10. I had no idea they come in different temps. Midas did the install. Wish I knew where the thermostat is so I could tell if they actually put it in. When off, the needle sits well below C. While driving, it may get just above C inside the |_______| So I'll never know if she overheats until it's too late because the needle never moves higher than the "NO" in NORMAL and that's if it decides to get up that high to begin with. Only off roading this thing saw/sees is when it snows here. But the 4x4 worked awesome and got me out of places and up steep snowy hills.

I'll post some pics.

[clem]

All you need to do the valve gaskets is a socket and a ratchet with an extension, remove some crap out of the way, you CAN do it, I believe. The thermostat housing is where the top rad hose goes, just follow the hose to the block and you should see a dome shaped thing the hose goes on, that's it.Good luck -Jeff

[joeyy]

My problem I guess is similar. I have a bad oil leak, and I'm assuming its coming out of the valve cover seals, because they are absolutly covered in oil. I'm going to change them her ein the next couple weeks. My knocking/clicking gets worse when theres less oil in it, imagine that, but I'm going to do it, it shouldn't be too hard to change yourself, anoteh rguy on here told me it only took him about an hour or so, the worst part is moving everything under the hood to get to the covers.

[drofman]

if you don't think you can change the valve covers yourself, pay someone else to do it. I have bikes also, but if you can remove a barrel you can do this. taking the ALT off the right side makes it easy. all you need is a 10mm and make sure you clean everything, even the bolt holes. that should be the 1st thing you do. thicker oil won't fix it. the PWR steering pressure hose is more than likely leaking, but clem is right, tranny auto lines are at the bottom on RAD and you said you are leaking PWR steering fluid, hows the tranny fluid doing? again if you can't do it, take it to someone who can,

[oneway]

thanks again fellas. I would seriously attempt this myself, but it's not warm enough yet here especially at night for me to be just on my bike and without my truck should I mess something up.

yea that's the only place i've noticed the red fluid...and it's very little...like 4-5 drops or so ever so often. I'll have to take a look at the tranny fluid level. The power steering fluid would be all the way down the neck of where you're supposed to fill it - not even coming close to the little short dip stick on the cap.

When I use 4x4 and have to rock back and forth to get outta something, later on I'll notice fluid dripping from the big case lookin thing underneath the truck...the one in the front. Again it would only be a few drops. It's apparent that everything has been dug into before as there is RTV at every seal (the black kind or maybe it's just old)

has anyone ever heard of Permatex? is it safe to use?

@ joeyy - yea...that's what the bolt locations and my valve cover look like - completely covered with oil. The ticking mine makes gets very loud when I'm trying to go up hill...then is almost not there at all when going down hill. Normal driving it's loud from take off, then gets very quiet once at and above 45mph.

[joeyy]

Yea, mine will click some when i first start it up cuz all th eoil is still in the bottom of the engine, but once it has a minute or more to warm up an dthe oil gets to the top end, it goes away some, Its still there slightly cause one day i ripping up a freshly covered parking lot in a foot of snow, and ran the oil wayyy too thin. my headers were actually glowing cherry red. so i let her cool down a bit but just letting it idle for about 10-15 mins then shut her off, thats how my clicking started, but with my oil leak, i have to usually put in half a quart every 2 or 3 days, but its starting to get worse, i bought a bottle of Lucas oil stabalizer and threw in there and i didnt have to touch the oil for about 2 or 3 weeks, but its starting loosing oil again so i bought anotehr bottle, it also helps when u first start it up, to keep oil in the top end so there isnt ever any clicking, Hopefully thats just where its leaking at is the valve covers. i'll try to change them over spring break. i swear by the Lucas brand though, its helped my oil, fuel and transmission. This isnt really related to this, but most of you on here know not to buy the cheap stuff and go ahead and spend the extra couple bucks and get the good name brand stuff. its totally worth the extra money.

[oneway]

Yea, mine will click some when i first start it up cuz all th eoil is still in the bottom of the engine, but once it has a minute or more to warm up an dthe oil gets to the top end, it goes away some, Its still there slightly cause one day i ripping up a freshly covered parking lot in a foot of snow, and ran the oil wayyy too thin. my headers were actually glowing cherry red. so i let her cool down a bit but just letting it idle for about 10-15 mins then shut her off, thats how my clicking started, but with my oil leak, i have to usually put in half a quart every 2 or 3 days, but its starting to get worse, i bought a bottle of Lucas oil stabalizer and threw in there and i didnt have to touch the oil for about 2 or 3 weeks, but its starting loosing oil again so i bought anotehr bottle, it also helps when u first start it up, to keep oil in the top end so there isnt ever any clicking, Hopefully thats just where its leaking at is the valve covers. i'll try to change them over spring break. i swear by the Lucas brand though, its helped my oil, fuel and transmission. This isnt really related to this, but most of you on here know not to buy the cheap stuff and go ahead and spend the extra couple bucks and get the good name brand stuff. its totally worth the extra money.

yea mine did that this morning for the first time since I've owned the truck since Nov 2009. I never had any clicking at start up until I used this stuff. I bought Lucas Oil Stop Leak and put it in when I got home...not much at all - probably like a 5 second squeeze of the bottle. Then I just went in the house. Went out to start it this morning and it made that tapping noise then stopped. The car was warm when I put it in, I guess I should have let it idle for a while or something I didn't put in much at all...would rather put in too little than too much I guess.

What is the difference between the Lucas Oil Stop Leak and Lucas Oil Stabilizer? No real directions on either bottle besides "best if used after an oil change" and "use about 20% of the bottle" I mean I have an oil leak so I got the stop leak...seems reasonable to me.

[joeyy]

Hmmmm, I dont know, i use the oil stabilizer and its worked fine for me, but i put in the whole bottle, just cuz its usually low on oil anyway and it seems to help for me at least. I've never used the stop leak before. the stabilizer says that it will decrease engine knocking, dry start up(no oil in top end), and a couple otehr things, but i dont know why its going bad for you..... I just bought new vavle cover seals and I'm going to replace them here in a week or two, they were only 12 bucks at advanced auto, the rubber kind NOT the cork, never buy cork seals, thought i would put that out there

[drofman]

don't put silicon on both sides, it will push out. i use gasket sealer (it's like contact cement) on the valve cover side to hold gasket inplace while installing V/C