changed my oil today...and notice i had a leak...ya kno on the top of the engine well under the spark plug cover well all the way to the left in their if ur lookin at the enigne their is liek a solenoid or something and its leakin oil all in that area aroudn the plugs then runs to the right and goes through a hole then alll over everything...i think the o ring in their must be junked...im takin it to the dealer tomorrow... has anyone had this problem...or kno what the thing is next to the plugs that is leakin???? thanks

Mine had the same problem, the first time I brought it in, they replaced the valve cover gasket. Well, that didn't work, but I found the problem myself, the little doohickie on the driver's side of the engine, at the top, is the VCT, Variable Cam Timing Solenoid. That's where the oil leak was. Mine was bad enough that I lost 1/2 quart of oil in 2000 miles. I brought it in for that problem and they replace the valve cover gasket & the VCT solenoid gasket. That seemed to stem the flow. Took almost a week but at least I come to a stop without having to put my air on re-circulate.

leave the hood shut . you are obviously not educated enough to handle the responsibility associated with the hood latch.

mine aint leakin that bad but imma take it in tomorrow thanks!

[hah] [hah]....take bullwinkle's advice

y would i take bullwinkles advice i dont think i said anything stupid it was a simple question...gunkin helped out thanks...

RockyNBullwinkle, what's up your ass?

Seemed like an uneducated person judging by the syntax, I'm surprised it didn't read, you know the thingy next to that doohickey, it's peeing or something cause I see oil in there.

R&B, thanks for the lesson, I'll only use leet speak from now on.

Here it goes.

D00d OMG u gt 017 l34|< |V' Fr0|V| ur \/[T 5073|V01D!

C'mon folks we're on the same team, we're here to help each other out; be nice. Okay, I called it a doohickey, I also identified it as a Variable Cam Solenoid.

If you want, you can say "D00d ur 50 l4m3!!" but this forum isn't for smacking each other down, it's for getting the most out of our rides. Not everyone is a professional car modder, nor is everyone out to race the ricers. We have a common interest, we all have a factory modded compact car that just happens to look cool, is fun to drive and we care a bit more about than most other drivers. For some VERY fortunate young people, this is their FIRST real car, it's a thrill and it is a big bummer when there's problems.

Be nice, maybe I offended you with the term "doohickey", maybe you're a Ford SVT engineer but if someone had told ME that their VCT solenoid was leaking, it would have saved me a trip to the shop, it would have also saved Ford a bunch of hassle with an misdiagonsed problem.

I apologize for any thing that I may have said to put anyone down. I wasn't referring to your post gukin, though now that I've had a chance to read your post again you do make mention of a doohickie. Forget about that, sometimes I get lit and get on the forums with a bad temper.

Thanks for the lesson in courtesies I'll try and heed your advice in the future.

Back on topic was it the leak in the solenoid or not? I'd like to know what to look for in the future.

R&B: apology accepted, I'm glad there's no bad blood, I've read lots of your posts and they're usually quite insightful. I jumped on this post because from the day I bought my car, I had the stench of burning oil coming through my vents. I brought it to the dealer & he replaced the valve cover gasket but the smell continued. I had to find source of the oil leak and prove to the dealer that IT was the source of the leak. This resulted in two separate weeks in the shop waiting for parts. Yeah, we get a free rental but I'd much rather drive my SVT than the cruddy Aerio the first time or the crappy Aveo the second time.

Keep up the quality posts, your knowledge is valuable to the rest of us.

apology accepted here too...sry i couldnt explain myself better but yea it is the solenoid leakin ford is fixing it friday..id do it myself but it under warrenty so y not...

I wonder just how common this problem is. When I canged my oil at 12K miles, it was a bit damp around the edges of the valve cover but nothing major, I am now at a little over 13K miles, I went to check the oil (I check it every 1K miles or so to be on the safe side) and it has gotten much worse. It is downright wet all the way around and the plastic cover over the plugs is getting oil all over it. This just sux man, now I get to make yet another fun trip to the dealer, woo hoo lol ......... btw, the oil I used is Castrol Syntec full synthetic, 10W-30 .... maybe the gasket is alergic to synthetic oil lol

^^^I just ordered a new VCT Solenoid and ValveCover gasket from Mike(B16) and am going to attempt to replace them myself since I am out of warranty! [:(] This is a common problem among SVT owners...

Here, does it look like this? I'm sure it's the VCT, but I am going to go ahead and replace the valve gasket as well...shoot, it was only $10 from Ford.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/johnrend/closeupofoil.jpg

Oh I'm sure mine is leaking there too, but most noticeably it is leaking all the way around the valve cover and the platic cover over the plugs is getting saturated. This is bullschtein, you would think in this day and age engineers could come up with a design that would be effective at keeping oil INSIDE the engine where it belongs! LOL ..... I love my car but damn, it's been in the shop more than every GM vehicle I have bought new combined, and now I have to take it back yet again.

I am also having a problem with the shifter cable at the tranny linkage popping off, which sux. Oh well, guess I will get both problems fixed at the same time, I just hate having to take my car to the dealer!

^^^At least your still under the nice bubble... (warranty)

^^^ Yes, that's true, it could be worse lol