Couple of questions possibly...

There are a lot of factors here...is it a smogger?? is it a performance built motor??

I believe too much heat is the enemy. Too much heat can blow a head gasket and/or crack a head or block. It also kills the ring seal to the cylinders.

Many of the smog era motors ran in the 200-220 range for smog purposes only (extra heat will burn more of the unburned fuel), but a racing engine likes a cooler temp and makes more power.

On my race car, once the temp reaches 200, I shut it off and keep the electric water pump and fan going to cool it down!!...its gone the fastest when the water temp was 135-140.

Seems like there is a lot of crankcase pressure!!...does it leak oil anywhere else, like front & rear crank seals or the pan gasket itself??

I use valve cover gaskets from "Earls"...you can get em from Summit. They have the rubber thats bonded to a steel shim frame and you cant overtighten them, plus they are reusable.

Check the surfaces on the valve covers, make sure they are not porous or rough.

I've had better luck with stock type cork gaskets from carquest. I use weather strip adhesive and only glue them to the valve cover, install with head side and head clean and dry. Randy.

Check the breathers on both sides to make sure they're not clogged or blocked. Do they always blow out like that when they blow? If so you're building alot of crankcase pressure in there for some reason as posted earlier. Some of the other causes of excessive crankcase pressure are excessive blow-by due to worn piston rings, a hole or crack in a piston crown, loose piston pin retainers, worn oil seals, cylinder head or end plate gaskets, or excessive exhaust back pressure. Also, the breather tube or crankcase ventilator should be checked for obstructions.

Have you changed something recently like the exhaust or muffler or catalytic converter? Did you port your heads or increase the flow of exhaust but not the exhaust system itself?

Just a couple of things to look at.

Jim

do a leak down on it,to see if the rings are washed

TorinoStyle2 said:

... a racing engine likes a cooler temp and makes more power.

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Just a quick sidebar: our internal combustion engines rely on heat as a key component for making power; they also react well to cooler air intake for making power...not necessarily cold operating temps. Also, cold operating temps, such as below ~160* water temperature, actually increases engine wear substantially.

Paul

Check the breathers and make sure that they don't have that foam crap inside of them. I bought some K&N air breathers and the engine kept leaking oil. When I took them off and looked inside them they had some kind of foam in them. I took that stuff out and have not had an oil leak since.

Sounds to me like they are being over-tightened.

My breathers were breathing before cause i would see the steam coming out of them but i have to admit i haven't seen it do that in a while.

I kinda think its the rtv i am using can't handle the heat or something. i will check everything everyone has mentioned though. The original gaskets were leaking but not blowing out until i switched them and used a different rtv.

I am tightening down the valvecovers more than i did the first time i put the motor together.

tiger said:

Check the breathers and make sure that they don't have that foam crap inside of them. I bought some K&N air breathers and the engine kept leaking oil. When I took them off and looked inside them they had some kind of foam in them. I took that stuff out and have not had an oil leak since.

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I checked them, they don't have any foam.

I'll have to get some new gaskets and fix it on my next days off. I must be over tightening them cuase i don't want them to leak anymore. I don't know what to torque them down too so i just tighten them.

I run those same valve covers and those same gaskets with no silicon, I just lay the rubber gasket in place. I take a 1/4 inch ratchet that is very short and just snug the bolts. I haven't had them leak yet.

WildFire532FB said:

My breathers were breathing before cause i would see the steam coming out of them but i have to admit i haven't seen it do that in a while....

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Steam? You'd better not be seeing steam. I agree, prolly overtightened.

If you can get one in there, I think a nut driver is the best tool for tightening valve cover bolts it is difficult to over-tighten them using one.

BobbyFord said:

Steam? You'd better not be seeing steam. I agree, prolly overtightened.

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Yeah the first 2 minutes of the engine running steam used to come out of them, i haven't seen it in a long time though it was only after getting the motor together.

I am going to redo them, use blue rtv and just tighten them to what the torque required in a book tells me.

1/4" valve cover bolts only torque to 7 FT/Lbs, that's about what you can turn on a screwdriver handle......you have to leave enough movement in the gasket so it can expand and contract with the temperature changes.
Rob

Rubber valve cover gaskets suck.

White Lightning said:

1/4" valve cover bolts only torque to 7 FT/Lbs, that's about what you can turn on a screwdriver handle......you have to leave enough movement in the gasket so it can expand and contract with the temperature changes.
Rob

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OK i am replacing the gaskets tomorrow, just going to hand tighten them i guess or use a torque wrench and torque them to the correct torque if i can find my book.