Valve cover gasket leak

[gina22]

i have a 1996 camry LE that i recently bought. i took it to a mechanic before the purchase and the only think wrong with it was a leak in the valve cover gasket.

the car drove perfect before replacing the valve cover gasket, now it smokes in the engine and has lost its power when driving (it is slow).

could this be another leak? and why would replacing the valve cover gasket make it worse? Not seeing much oil on the ground - specks. it started smoking the day after the valve cover replacement.

anyone have an idea of what the issue is? i checked the oil and the level and color are fine. the car didn't have any antifreeze so filled that up, but still smoking and worse.

[1996camry]

have 4 spark plug checks if oil got in there.. did you replace gasket plug when you changed valve gasket?

if you do yourself, u need to remove per plug at a time...look for oil...on spark plug..

[gina22]

A mechanic did the replacement, and i did ask him what he exactly did and he said only replace the valve cover....so i don't think he checked for oil in other places.

also, when we had the car looked at before purchasing they said the car had new spark plugs....but i guess that doesn't matter once oil gets in there? Thanks so much for your reply!

[hill8570]

"smokes in the engine" -- I interpret that as meaning that the smoke is coming from the engine compartment and not out the tailpipe...correct?

If so, can you tell where the smoke is coming from? Screwing up the main gasket or the seals around the spark plug wells normally shouldn't cause a loss of power, but I suppose screwing up the spark plug well seal could get enough oil on the plug wires to cause an arcing problem. Seems more likely that the plug wires got damaged when the valve cover was replaced, and the smoking is unrelated to the power loss. Definitely would help to know where the smoke is coming from.

[JohnGD]

Use a mirror to check the rear of the engine near the firewall. Most likely oil is leaking out from there. Also check the cover nuts, they may be loose because spark plug tube seals took a set.

That generation's valve cover design isn't good at all. Toyota revised it in 02.

Originally Posted by gina22

i have a 1996 camry LE that i recently bought. i took it to a mechanic before the purchase and the only think wrong with it was a leak in the valve cover gasket.

the car drove perfect before replacing the valve cover gasket, now it smokes in the engine and has lost its power when driving (it is slow).

could this be another leak? and why would replacing the valve cover gasket make it worse? Not seeing much oil on the ground - specks. it started smoking the day after the valve cover replacement.

anyone have an idea of what the issue is? i checked the oil and the level and color are fine. the car didn't have any antifreeze so filled that up, but still smoking and worse.