well i just went out to check out my car, and i was looking closely at the valve cover becasue i want to polish it and i was just looking to see what all i have to do to get it off and back on well on further inspectiontion i think i seen two cracks... i can't get a picture right now because i have to go to work, but is it posssible, and could this be why i keep getting a CEL for running lean?

i'll post pictures later on tonight

 

a valve cover wouldn't cause a lean code as far as I know..

 

No, it wouldn't you are correct

 

It can cause a lean fuel trim code. Its effectively a leak in the PCV.

 

Interesting....



you > Me

 

They won't be cracks all the way thru, remember its molded aluminum not forged.

 

yeah when i polished mine i notice some really shallow cracks in mine, thats from the molding process, im not sure how it differs from my profession as a plastic molding tech, but that happens when there is **** in the tool, or when the vents are not properly working and it causes air to be trapped inside the tooling causing those cracks or defects. It shouldnt compromise your PCV system unless it is a complete crack.

 

you now have a big leak in the PCV system if it is cracked, thus POSSIBLY causing your code.

if its cracked, you should notice weird driving conditions, mainly on cold start due to its slowed reaction times.

 

If its cracked you'd have oil EVERYWHERE!!!! Or didn't anyone realize that?

 

Valve cover doesn't contain pressurized oil so its possible that there would not be an oil leak but it would depend on where it's cracked.

 

Its not presurized true, but it sure does get thrown around like a double son of a bitch by those cams whipping around like a ****! I'd be willing to bet a few bucks oil would find its way thru if they were cracks. But maybe a few places it wouldn't hit I guess.

 

well as i went to take pictures of it today it... i noticed that it was just a deep scratch in the surface, which kinda baffels me because there was never any thing there that would scratch it like that, but oh well i guess it will smooth out when i polish it.

On my way to work to day i was thinking about it, and yes i did realize that it would be very likely that oil would be coming through the supposed crack, since it would have been on the inside part toward the far right left side.

But thanks guys for all the help you offered me