oil leak from head gasket???

[randy_1651]

Okay, I change my oil my self on my gen 1.5 2002 V6 every 3000mi. with mobil 1 10W30 I put 5qts. everytime but I see that I have an oil leak not very bad from the valve cover gasket I clean it and it comes back what should I do? ooh I have 53000mi

[TMMK Toy]

sure its not a valve cover gasket?

[randy_1651]

yes, my bad it's the valve cover gasket

[Turbosolara]

quite normal, its not expensive to fix it anyway

[bronzemaxell]

quite normal, its not expensive to fix it anyway

yes, probably $20 or $30 for parts, but $300 to $500 for labor if you hire a mechanic. the rear valve cover gasket is a b!tch.

[SleeperSolara]

quite normal, its not expensive to fix it anyway

+2.
It normal just tighten the front bolts down and just clean or wipe off the oil off.
If it starts to leak alot within a deay or week, it would be time to change it.

[Eye8Pussies]

is it the front or the rear valve cover?

and it's not a good idea just to tighten the bolts- chances are that you may snap them and it still wont' stop the leak if there is already oil breaking the gasket seal

if it's the front valve cover, then just replace the gasket- it's a cinche. Just watch when retightening the bolts or pick up all new ones. I snapped two before I even got close to the torque specs given in the shop manual since the crush washers were 12 years old and wouldn't crush again.

If it's the rear cover gaskt.....unless you're fairly mechanically inclined, it's not worth fixing if the leak isn't much. But by the same token, if you're blown, then you don't want any leaks at all if possible and would be a good idea to fix.

Doing it is a bitch, so I can see whey labor to do it would be a good 400bucks if not more at a shop. The gasket it self is only about 25bucks.