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Blue smoke after valve cover gasket change?

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:14 pm
by robd
Hey guys,

So after I picked up my (new to me) L400 V6 I noticed an oil leak from the drivers side valve cover seal. Took it back to dealer, they fixed it.

I just picked it up from them today, and was driving home and noticed a lot of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. All I could see behind me was a plume of smoke!

Why would there be oil in the fuel after a valve cover gasket replacement????!? This doesn't make sense to me. I called the dealer and he said to drive it around a bit and it should go away...

Any idea's whats going on? :?:

Re: Blue smoke after valve cover gasket change?

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:05 am
by Big-Bird
Has it cleared up?

I wonder if the dealer pulled the intake plennum off to fix your oil leak. That might have allowed oil to get in the intake system while they had valve cover(s) off.

The only other way would be a failed valve seal(s) or a damaged head gasket. Neither of which would be touched for a valve cover gasket repair.

Re: Blue smoke after valve cover gasket change?

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:43 pm
by Growlerbearnz
Hopefully it's cleared up by now. If not:

Did the dealer do anything else while it was there? Changed the oil and overfilled it, maybe?

If it doesn't clear up, the only other thing I can think of is an oil drain issue in the valve cover- if they left a shop towel in there (eek!), blocked a drain hole with sealant, or damaged the oil separator you might be getting excessive oil in the cover. I'd run the engine till it smokes, then look in the oil filler cap and see if it's full of oil while the engine's running. Note: this will be messy.

Re: Blue smoke after valve cover gasket change?

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 9:43 pm
by robd
Thanks for the replies and advice.

The smoke seems to have cleared itself up :-D