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Long time user of this forum, and can't find anything on oil leaks from the rocker cover on the OM648. Mine seems to be weeping small amounts of oil around the valve cover bolt at the center front--like oil is getting pushed out around the bolt and coming out at the bolt head. Also seeing older oil signs (but this has been there for a while) along the driver's side of the cover, from front to back, and well as below the front, passenger corner of the valve cover. However, this all looks like old oil--only seeing new oil coming from that bolt. I'll wipe up oil around that bolt, drive the car for 40 min, and can see new oil around the bolt.
Before I pull the injectors (if I do, thinking I should replace the nozzles at that time) and do a valve cover gasket, I wanted to see if anyone else had this problem? Looking at the valve cover seal kit, there doesn't seem to be any gasket around the bolts (just perimeter of cover and injectors), so I'm skeptical this would fix that oil getting pushed up at the bolt.
Thought maybe it's too much pressure in there, pushing oil up... not breathing properly under there?
Out of town, but will post photos when I return... as well as whatever the solution is here if I can figure this out.
It's a 2005 with about 160K miles. Bought the car around 110K. Replaced a couple injector seals, but that's the only things I've touched around the valve cover.
A couple shots of the issue:
The middle photo is along the side, and there’s so little (tho more than pictures in other spots along side), it’s making me think it’s old oil/junk from when I took care of the early signs of black death.
Looks like the engine wasn't washed for 160,000 miles, so if that is all it accumulated in that mileage - I would not worry about it.
Wash the engine and recheck after 500 miles.
After I purchased my '06 CDI, I found I had oil pooling in the injector valley. I originally thought it was 'black-death' in the making. I pulled the injectors and replaced all seals only to find the oil continuing to pool in the injector valley. Puzzled, I continued to clean the injector valley and luckily, when I had the engine idling...I ended up finding I had a cracked valve cover due to a poorly executed previous repair. I repaired the valve cover and that fixed that issue.
Engine has been washed once or twice in its life (hence that label coming off the front of the valve cover--note residue)... just not in the last year. It has, however, been cleaned around those two front bolts to onitor for oil. And sure enough, fresh oil is weeping up around them.
You must be driving in dusty areas with all that sand on top of the engine in short time?
Anyway, what the pictures show is what I call "sweating". Not a mechanical problem at all, but cosmetic one.
Taking valve cover out for resealing is pretty big job on this engine, so unless you want to do other jobs, I would not rush to this one.
Also in the past I had good results sealing the sweating with polyurethane caulk, what might be another non-cosmetic option.
I agree, I only clean my engine bay about once a year, what you show pics of would not even raise my pulse one beat. Sure ZERO oil seepage is ideal, but I regret to inform you the world in which we live is FAR from mechanical perfection even 110 years after piston motors rose to the top of the sales chart.
Hey! did you ever get it fixed or anything else pop up? I just recently noticed a oil leak around the top of my valve cover and such but cant pin point a leak as its also a mess.
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