so, i had an oil leak from the back of the manifold so i decided to take it off and while in there take the heads off and just put all new gaskets on the top end of the motor just to be safe. everything went very smoothly and ran the car for over an hour in the garage at idle flushing the coolant and then once i took it for a drive and got on it twice the firewall on the passenger side is covered in oil. Before any of this i noticed that if i take the PCV hose off the passenger side of the throttle body from the valve cover it doesnt feel like it is sucking any air at all. could this be causing my head to fill up with air and push the gasket out the back or is it normal for that vacume line to not be pulling enough air to even feel on your hand? I wasnt sure. Also, the vacume line coming off the drivers side of the manifold is sucking air really well, just nothing from the passenger side on the throttle body. Thanks in advance for the help

 

There will not be any appreciable vacuum in the line from the throttle body to the passenger side valve cover. That's the PCV "VENT" line, not the PCV line. The PCV valve is on the driver's side of the intake manifold, with a vacuum source from a line that connect to a port on the intake manifold under the throttle body.

The line on the passenger side provides filtered, MAF measured air from a port in front of the throttle body blades (hence, no vacuum) that flows through the passenger side valve cover and is pulled through the engine by the vacuum from the PCV valve. Although it's vacuum that is motivating the air flow, you aren't going to feel much in the way of vacuum at the far end of the system. Note that the PCV valve is a 2-way check valve. Under very high intake manifold vacuum conditions, the valve tends to close off flow.

Assuming your PCV valve is not plugged up, what may be happening is high piston ring blowby. If there is more blowby than the PCV system can handle, pressure will build in the crankcase, and force the blowby gasses out the vent hose on the passenger side. Check the line on the passenger side for oil buildup, and look under the top cover plate on the throttle body for oil buildup. Heavy accumulations would possibly indicate excessive blowby.

And the pressure the builds up is in the crankcase and lifter valley, not in the head.

 

Was taught a very valuable lesson today by Shoebox. Just because it looks right. Doesn't always mean that it is right. Although the rubber grommet in the right valve cover is the same size as a PCV valve does not mean that it should have a PCV in it. With a PCV in the right valve cover it will not allow the PCV in the left side of the intake to ventilate the crankcase, in turn the block will pressurize and it will push the valve cover or intake gasket out. Leaving you with a big puddle of oil and a strange look on your face.

Thanks again Shoebox, valuable lesson learned