yup thats it, ... and intact... if the gasket were the source of the leak the oilstain would show ere it was leaking and coming in.... being that the whole maniold was covered as well as the plate it looks to be a spray pulled in from the pvc.... just my thoughts on it though... the gasket does look like it was shifted in a couple spots but not enough of a gap to cause that I think...

 

Well I'll have dad get me a PVC valve because he works at a car dealership.

At least I already fixed the hard part

 

Now I can't get the theemostat to open up.

 

Probably an air pocket just under the stat....... typical.

I would think that if the PCV system were the primary culprit here, you would see most of the oil opposite where the fitting for the inlet line is, which isn't the case here.... nice uniform covering at the front, and MUCH heavier at the rear.

Also, just because the gasket is 'intact', does NOT mean it wasn't leaking. My valve cover gaskets are intact, but, they still leak....... (yeah, I know, I really need to change those......)

 

How do I get the air pocket out? Yeah I almost jumped on the valve cover gaskets but decided not too.

 

What i did, was run the engine at like 1500 RPM, to "pack" the coolant into the engine. Yeah, it has a pretty high 'pucker factor', but, so long as you don't get into the 'red' on the temp gauge, should be ok.

 

How long did it take?

 

just a couple minutes, once it actually started warming up.

 

I'll have to give it a try again, it got a little too close to that red line the first time

 

Yeah... that's where the pucker factor comes in.