Valve cover issue

[WadmalawJoe]

I will post a picture later, but the problem is my drivers side valve cover hits on the exhaust manifold. The valve covers are edlebrock but very cheap chrome ones. The flange is to wide. The previous owner ground a little off and so have I. Even the spreader hits so I ground that a little. The !@%&** thing still leaks. I guess I know the answer, new better covers.... but I hate to spend money on a better covers if I have to grind them to fit as well.
I have taken the drivers side off 3 times to fix the leak. I pride myself on my valve covers, I've never had one of mine leak. So this one is pissing me off.

Another thing I noticed is the breather assembly is leaking as well. There is enough pressure to push oil through the filter and leak, not bad, but enough to leave a trail on the valve cover. The drivers side just has the one hole with the breather that you remove to pour oil in. The passenger side has the pcv valve with one hole only for that. I think my next valve covers will have two holes on each side if possible, one for a breather and one for a pcv, so I can run a double pcv set up.

[Scott>72-GMC]

Big or small block????
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[WadmalawJoe]

I guess that might help, its a 350.

[Scott>72-GMC]

And your running the stock exhaust manifold? That doesn't make much sense is that the only valve covers you have tried?
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[Lee H]

Looking forward to the picture.
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[Scott>72-GMC]

Yes very much so I'm scratching my head
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[hayhauler71]

maybe the manifold has been milled a few times and now is to close to the valve cover?

[RexDodge]

What gasket? They make a thick cork gasket that you could try...if you haven't done that yet. As for the oil through the breather, how fresh is this engine? Some will say the baffling is cheap. I run the same valve cover and they give me no problems.
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[WadmalawJoe]

Some pictures


My exhaust manifolds are different from each other, maybe I am wrong but look at my pictures.

[WadmalawJoe]

I measured the spacing between the head and the manifold and both sides measure the same, but clearly something is out.

Drivers side



Passenger side has at least a little space the whole way

[WadmalawJoe]

ttt

[Ol Blue K20]

Maybe that manifold was warped and surfaced alot. Also try thick cork gasket and leave the silicone out of the picture, I have found it can cause a wick effect. I know you had it off and have probably checked but make sure the head drain holes are clear and draining good

[WadmalawJoe]

I have never had good luck with just straight up cork gaskets. I have never tried the thick ones though.

[dlh760]

I don't know if you've tried or not but you might want to see if swapping valve covers side to side makes any difference. I know it shoudn't but it actually did make a difference on mine when I put my engine together. The valve covers would only fit right on one head each. Strange but it worked. Hth,Dan.
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[WadmalawJoe]

I'm probably going to have to buy new covers, this last time I siliconed the cover straight to the head in one of those I'll show you! moments.. So it will probably get trashed just trying to get it back off..
What is weird is the flange along the top is notched from the factory. So if they were put on upside down the notch might work. I think the notch is there for the intake, I read some guys had problems with covers and intakes, but I have a edelbrock performer intake and it sits lower along the head. So no issues on that side.

[WadmalawJoe]

Update!
I bought new valve covers, the Edelbrock Elite ones they are a thick cast aluminum ones with the ribs on top.
Using my grinder I carefully ground the bumps on the exhaust manifold back enough to have better clearance.
Then I used the thick cork gasket and black rtv and let it cure overnight.
The next day I drive it probably 60-70 miles and still get a oil dripping on the exhaust smell!
I had cleaned everything really well so I
knew it wasn't leftover residue, plus with driving as much as I did that would've burned off and the smell got worse throughout the trip.
I look the covers over and its that same driver's side back corner!! A little stream of oil was creeping down from the corner where the cover and head meet. So I made the time to re-do the gasket again yesterday. I pull the cover off, which was stuck on very well I might add and notice it was nice and dry all the way around the lip of the head. So it finally dawns on me that its not the valve cover leaking at all!!!!
I did some more cleaning and inspecting of the head in that back corner area and find a hairline crack about a quarter inch below the lip!!! The first time I replaced the cover gasket I noticed all kinds of rtv smeared back there and each of the 3 times that I replaced the gasket I cleaned more and more of it off as it was not a easy spot to get to and so in turn I was unknowingly cleaning the crack out more and more each time!!! (I used a dremel with a wire brush bit, cleans off rtv like a champ!!!)
So what I have done now is cleaned that corner up really good both inside the lip and out. I used brake cleaner to clean it really well as it doesn't leave a residue. Then smeared black rtv back into the crack and over it. I'm thinking it should be fine since the crack is up in the very top portion of the head. I will drive it some today and see. I will update again later whether it holds again or not.

[WadmalawJoe]

Well its been 8 days. The crack in the head has been fine, the rtv sealant seems to be holding.
However, I have been having all kinds of blow-by problems.
The pcv was in good shape, like new, but the breather was dripping like crazy.
Here is the breather I had.


I deleted both the pcv and the breather and routed a open drain line basically to let the pressure out. My diesel truck had a similar set up, the crankcase vapors used to get sucked into the turbo and a mod was to route a hose away and release the vapors elsewhere. Anyway the pressure ended up coming out the oil dipstick!
So I did some experimenting. I put the pcv into the drivers side valve cover and oil drops started shooting out of the dipstick tube! (I had removed the actual dipstick to view any vapors coming out)
I noticed very little vapors would come out of the dipstick tube if the breather hole was left open on the valve cover. Basically because they were free to vent out of the valve cover. I then put the pcv back over in the passenger side and the vapors quit all together from coming out of the dipstick tube. So I got a better breather and put it in the drivers side valve cover.
Since then I have taken it up to 80 mph and haven't had any oil leaks or vapor drips of any sort.
Here is the breather I switched to;



I also did a compression check and I have around 180 psi on each cylinder, around being within a couple pounds of 180.

[Andy4639]

Glad you got it all figured out.
Been there done that myself last week also with the PVC line being clogged up. It was blowing oil out the stick and it was driving me crazy because I thought it was the back of the head doing it. But I finally caught the stick sticking up last week after driving it.
I hope it fixed anyway haven't had a chance to drive it but once and it did fine.