Its leaking and spraying onto the top of the roof of the hood. What is it and do I need it?

 

is it connected to the valve cover or is it just on top of the lip that is closest to the intake? sounds like the steam pipe coming from the back of the heads sparying coolant on ur hood. if it is coolant yes u need to fix it to keep ur engine from over heating eventually.

 

It is slips into the top of the valve cover and goes to the TB.

 

Sounds like the CCV (crank case ventilation hose)----brings air from the TB into the crank case through the pass-side valve cover. If it is leaking, I don't know what could be leaking other than air, unless the oil in the valve train is being splattered up out of the valve cover through the hole. Maybe a new hose would seal better. JMHO

 

Yeah, its leaking. I just wondered what it did.

 

As noted, it supplies clean, MAF measured air to the passenger side valve cover, for the PCV system. Manifold vacuum pulls the air through the crankcase, up through the lifter valley, out the PCV valve on the driver's side of the intake manifold, and then to a vacuum port, under the throttle body (95-97).

If you have excessive piston ring bypass (blowby), the pressure starts to build in the crankcase, the PCV valve can't handle the volume, and the pressure vents backwards, through the line from the valve cover to the throttle body. The air often entrains oil droplets and carries oil through the vent line to the throttle body.

Check the PCV valve to make sure its working. If it is, then pop the oil fill cap and listen/feel for a "chuffing" of air out the oil fill tube. That would confirm severe piston ring blowby. Check the grommet on the valve cover, check the tube and pull the plate on top of the throttle body looking for oil buildup.

 

With the amount of blowby that would cause this, wouldn't my car be severely down on power? My car feels strong as always.

What am I looking for with the grommet on top of the valve cover?

 

The plastic elbow should fit tight in the grommet, to prevent the oil from blowing out of it. But if you have enough crankcase pressure to blow oil all the way up onto the hood, its probably not going to cure the problem.

Check the tube and the TB and see how bad the oil buildup is.

 

Well, the grommet on the valve cover isn't snug. When I put the tube in it, you can see oil bubbles coming up from around the grommet and inside the grommet around the tube. the PCV vave is a little over a year old and still rattles and 'looks' clean. The TB is also gunk free and has a tiny bit of oil in it.

Thoughts? can the grommet itself be the culprit?

 

There should not be any pressure in the valve cover, except at WOT when there is no intake manifold vacuum to pull a vacuum on the crankcase. The grommet is intended to seal against the almost "neutral" pressure in a correctly functioning PCV system. If you have pressure in the valve cover at idle, its only going to get worse at higher engine loads. Sealing the grommet may work, but it may also cause the pressure to vent through the throttle body, gunking up the TB and the intake.

Appears the only thing you have done so far is look at the grommet and the PCV valve. Have you checked any of the other things I suggested?

 

I checked everything you listed. everything is good, oil/gunk free, and no air chuffing from oil fill tube.

 

Any chance you modified the valve cover for 1.6X roller rockers, and removed the small baffle that protects the vent tube connection?

 

Totally stock.

 

Kevin, just replace that grommet, they get old and brittle. I replaced mine a while back. My car seeps oil out of that elbow as well as the valve cover bolt holes, drives me crazy. Of course the seepage only happens after seeing some high Rs. I'm gonna have to put some rubber washers under those valve cover bolts.

 

I still got oil puddles under my car too. I'm thinking of pulling the intake again.