i am thinkin bout buyin a maro but i am curious bout the engine. the guy said he changed the valve covers today and when i wnet to look at the car the engine was smokin. he says " when he took of the valves oil leaked out and down the side of the engine. AAAHHHHH. is that supposed to happen i really have no idea. the old covers where also covered it oil. could there be something wrong with that ports that distrubute the oil or whatver or is it a major problem?

thankx.

 

Gaskets wear out after time, which is likely what happened to the gaskets under the old valve covers. I'm guessing that the owner figured that since he was changing the gasket, he might as well install some nice looking valve covers while he was at it. (especially since they make the car look nicer to prospective buyers) Under the valve covers are the rockers and other valve train components. The valve train needs to be lubricated, so oil splashes around. When removing valve covers, it's not uncommon for a small ammout of oil to leak. A set of new valve covers with new gaskets should not leak.

If you do buy the car, I highly recomend that you remove a valve cover, just to see what it looks like under there. As long as you don't let any dirt fall in, you can't cause any harm. There's no real need to pop a cover off, it just looks cool, and will give you a slightly better understanding of how cars work, and make future minor repairs seem less intimidating.

 

Erik's got it pretty much coverd, just remember that the oil that spilt out should burn off... so let it run and see if the smoke goes away