I just noticed that I have started to get oil leaking from the k&n breather in my driver side valve cover. Any thoughts on what would cause this?

Thanks,

Blowby from leaky rings, non-functioning or no PCV system. You basically have cranckcase pressure that is looking for the easiest way out of the motor. Do you have a PCV in the other valve cover?

Thanks Jim,
Yes I do have a PVC valve in the passenger side VC. I guess I will have to check the valve to make sure it is working.

Regards,

Does it smoke from the breather when idling or only under WOT conditions? Under normal conditions mine does not produce any oil fumes from the breather, but after a 1/4 mile pass down the track, when I pull into the pits, there is some oil on my valve cover due to some blowby I have.

ps....just checked out your car pics. Nice clean looking Chevelle you've got there!

Steve, my 350 does the same thing, and I also have a PCV valve in the other cover. Unfortunately, getting a little oil on the valve cover seems to be a part of life. Wouldn't hurt to check the PCV valve though.

Thanks Jim,
I just noticed that I had a small leak on the garage floor when I looked the engine over I saaw a small amount of oil leaking from the K&N breather on the drivers side. I have never noticed it before. It is not a large leak, just enough to annoy. I have not noticed any smoke from the breather.

Regards,

Steve, have you ever been in the Cascade area of Atlanta and got on the highway behind a gray primered 68 Chevelle?

Hey Mikey, I hope you are right. I would be highly irritated if I had a piston problem.

Gared69, I probably have, I pass Cascade 2 times a day going to work and coming home.

Steve, here's my theory. When your brether is new, the oil gets trapped in the filter that's inside the breather. After a while, the filter gets saturated and the oil dribbles out onto your valve cover. Annoying, but I really doubt it's any big deal.

Are you using a grommet in the valve cover to keep the oil from splashing up into your breather? Moroso, Mr. Gasket etc... sell them. They have a bottom with an offset or a slit in them so oil can't splash directly up into your breather and drip all over.

Steve,

I would try a compression check. I had a simular problem with a firebird once. Turned out that a rist pin was cutting into my cylinder wall. Not a pretty site.

Steve

Thanks Guys, I don't think there is a grommet. My breather is a K&N chrome unit with a K&N filter. I haven't really looked at it but I believe it is a 1 piece unit the pushes into the hole in the valve cover. I may be wrong, I really haven't looked at the breather.

Regards,

Steve, I had the same problem with my small block. When I switched my pcv to drivers side front, from pass side rear cleaned filter of oil, problem went away. Worked for me.....Ralph