Hello all,

I pulled my upper intake manifold today and on the gasket I noticed oil around some of the holes (see pic). The oil is wet and looks relatively new. Also, when examining the actual manifold I noticed a glaze of oil in the passenger side of the manifold.

I replaced the oil separator recently (within the last 2K miles) so I am unsure if that would be the cause.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

I'd be willing to bet it is related to your PCV system. You replaced the spiral separator in the cylinder head so that may all be residual buildup. Since you have the upper intake off, it's a good time to pull the valve covers and make sure everything is clear in the baffles. Clean out the upper intake as best you can and don't worry about the lower intake too much. Check the area behind throttle plate. It is likely pretty ugly. If you want to go the extra step you can pull it off and clean it but it probably won't make much difference.

 

make sure the PVC hose is not collapsing under vacuum.

Check the linkage to the air cleaner.
All those pipes tight?

you may just be getting dirt in there which is turning black in there.
make sure the other side of the PVC is OK and letting air in.

You could be getting a vacuum strong enough to pull oil up thru the valve cover filter?

 

what he said

 

Thanks, guys. I will pull the rocker covers today and see what I can find. I'll clean the TB while it's disconnected, there is some buildup in there.

I recently replaced the old PVC hoses with new ones from AB so I doubt it would be collapsing. How can I tell if there is too strong a vacuum, and is there any way to lessen its strength?

Thanks again for the advice. Fun times ahead!

 

you dont say what year it is the early one you can remove the oil separator without removing the vc, 03 & 04 i think the cover has to come off

 

also, if it's an 03/04 make sure you didn't put the oil separator in upside down. The point on the end has to go down on those years or it will block the small hole in the top of the tube.
In other years it goes pointed end up.

 

yup, I had the same issue if you check out my thread...PCV in the valve cover. That and i'm sure you'll find some other things once you're in there

 

It is a 2002 disco 2, about 93K miles on it currently. The oil separator I purchased I believe had points on both ends... I will make sure of it when I am in the valve covers and cut one of the ends off to be sure. When I originally replaced the separator, the original only had one point and I did not have any problems.

Thanks for tips.

 

It has a point like with a blunt tip on one end (part of the spine) and two tiny bumps on the other end. It needs those two bumps to hold it back away from the hole in the tube.

If your separator pulls out from the top of the valve cover the two bumps go down toward the floor.

If your separator pulls out from underneath the cover the two bumps go upward toward the sky.

So when you pull the hose off the top of the valve cover if the metal tube has a tiny hole in the top of it, about the size of a match head, then the two bumps on the separator will go upward next to the hole to keep the separator back a little and not block the hole.

If when you pull the hose off you can see the separator, and the top of the metal tube is completely open, then the two small bumps on the separator go downward toward the floor.

First see if you can blow air through the hose down through the separator into the valve cover to see if it's clogged or restricted. That may not be your problem.... was just a thought since you had mentioned putting a new one in.