BAFFLES FOR THE 318 VALVE COVERS - OIL LEAK

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soonercruiser

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So, the expert that I met in Tulsa looks at the oil leaks from my MOPAR valve covers that has been accumulating at the base of the intake.
He has me remove the oil cap, and says..."NO BAFFLES"???
So a lot of that oil is coming splashed up under the caps, that don't seem to seal that tightly.

Picture below...
Are there baffles that I can get for these valve covers, that I can get separately?

engine bay.jpg
 
You should vent the crankcase and eliminate the possibility of any pressure. Also, most valve covers will have a baffle (or plate across the opening) where the holes are in the valve covers. Since yours are cast, there may be a place to screw a plate. A small plate made of sheet metal will suffice.
 
Check the valve covers and see there not hitting the intake , they won't seal and can break if tighten to hard sometimes
 
Unless you get vents and/or a functioning pcv system on there, you're going to have built up crankcase pressure pushing oil out of all kinds of unexpected places.
 
CalCustoms valve covers have a knockout boss inside under the logo for a PCV valve. Some were drilled for baffle plate use and others just had a pad on either side to accept a drill bit.
IMG_20231024_134824.jpg
 
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The 4 bolts bolts where the oil accumulates are known to wick oil up to pool on the intake.
Remove and apply sealer/RightStuff to the bolt threads .
As mentioned, those valve covers often are held away from the head by the intake manifold interference, and need some grinder attention to seal properly.
PCV an absolute.

IMG_20231105_075918.jpg
 
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inertia said:
The 4 bolts bolts where the oil accumulates are known to wick oil up to pool on the intake.
Remove and apply sealer/RightStuff to the bolt threads .
As mentioned, those valve covers often are held away from the head by the intake manifold interference, and need some grinder attention to seal properly.
PCV an absolute.

View attachment 1716162577
Click to expand...
PCV Valve????
Don't remember my 1970 Dart having one.
 
Pcv in a rubber grommet on one side, a breather cap on the other. Both should have a baffle. The breather is vented to the outside. The pcv has vacuum so no baffle and it can suck up oil as well as fumes.
 
So, OK I'M ONLY GOING TO SAY/ADMIT THIS ONCE!
It's been 30+ years since I dealt with less than "Modern MOPAR"!
Nothing but PTs and Challengers since 2006.
So, yes I would seem ignorant to most of you guys. But, I'm willing to learn. :)

Pictures below....
Drivers side has only oil fill cap....and that fits pretty loose....I can depress it easily; so not sealed.

Passenger side has fill cap, and PCV valve.
**Upon inspection, the hose from the carb end is very loose, even though the Gates hose doesn't look that old.
Fit on PCV valve end was OK....BUT....the grommet was toast!!! Lucky that I got it out in one piece....not leaving anything inside.
Also pictured below.

My guess is that there was very little vacuum happening.

drivers side valve cover.jpg


passenger side valve cover.jpg


pcv valve grommet.jpg


SO.....here is my plan: (I like the look of the red and black MOPAR air filter cover, and valve covers; will keep it for now.)

1. New PCV valve and standard grommet ordered. (We'll see how that std grommet fits)
2. New vacuum hose bought today.
3. Thereby having the vacuum pulling on the passenger side; ordering a new MOPAR cap for a better seal.
4. Ordered a MOPAR breather for the driver's side. If everything is reasonably sealed, the breather (breathing inwards only) on the driver's side should act as it's own baffel. (breather I ordered says is has a built-in baffel)
5. Re-evalaute the bad leak on the driver's side; subsequently pulling and resealing the cover.
( so far no luck on finding the same exact PCV valve grommet)

Unless someone convinces me that's a bad idea!

:rolleyes:
 
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Confirm the width on your valve cover with the "standard" grommet. Lots of cast covers are closer to a half inch in thickness at the knockout and the grommet channel is too narrow to seat all the way.
 
On a correctly functioning PCV system, the breather lets fresh air in to the system when vacuum is high, light throttle/load situations. When vacuum is low (0) under hard acceleration high load situations, the breather let’s combustion gasses that push past the rings and in to the crankcase, escape. The breather works both ways. A good baffle is almost necessary in any valve cover hole that isn’t a sealed cap.
 
www.forabodiesonly.com

Extending valve cover baffle. Thoughs?

Hey all, Asking for opinions! Through the traps I get some oil spray out of the passenger side breather. Instead of a vac pump, or an evac kit...I think I will try something simple. Below I took off the valve cover, and discovered it has a baffle (which I knew) but it's pretty small, and...
www.forabodiesonly.com www.forabodiesonly.com

www.tapatalk.com

racingfuelsystems-PCV Flow Rates

Seems to be a dearth of publicly available tech data on crankcase evacuation. This makes it more difficult finding suitable matches (or hacking) for
www.tapatalk.com www.tapatalk.com
 
CudaChick1968 said:
Confirm the width on your valve cover with the "standard" grommet. Lots of cast covers are closer to a half inch in thickness at the knockout and the grommet channel is too narrow to seat all the way.
Click to expand...
Yup!
Thanks. I did see a few on the web that I will have to measure more, and maybe order.
Right now I'm hoping the NAPA one will seal for the time being.
 
The grommet that came with my order for the 67 318 PCV Valve fit the hole in the valve cover just fine.
However, the center hole in the grommet was not near wide enough to fit in the barrel of the PCV valve to the proper depth.
So, out came the Dremel!
Worked fine. Plenty of outer rubber still left.

So, I'm back running.
Just waiting for the baffeled breather to come in.
Next will be the valve cover gaskets.
 
You need to get that PCV grommet fixed and then you need to install a valve cover breather on the driver's side valve cover in the place of that oil fill cap. That will probably take care of almost all of it. Then if it still does it at all, you can put baffles in the covers.
 
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