Gasket valvecover Fox 88

Are you missing your hold-down bars?

You should tighten the bolts in a cross pattern, like lug bolts or cylinder head bolts. Else you distort the valve cover and it leaks.

I am thinking that you have a tiny bit of the old gasket still there somewhere. Or the cover is bent. Inspect well!!!

The front timing cover is associated with the valve cover as far as oil leaks. Other than a pristine mating surface, the cover must not be bent. Little torque is required, but follow-up torquing in a shrinking X pattern is advisable not overdoing it. If the cover location of the bolts is cupped inwards, its bent.

Blowby is more associated with antifreeze coolant contamination of the oil. Usually occurring from defective head gasket or bad sealing head surface. The oil will turn a milky color. Combustion gases may enter the antifreeze, and manifest itself as gas bubbles at the radiator, or its reservoir. A combination of all 3, antifreeze, oil, and gas bubbles may also occur. Those are visual signs of blowby.

hmmm is that right? What is described below is more a bad headgasket allowing fluids to mix = BAD. IIRC I thought blowby was a result of the pistons/rings not perfectly sealing at the cylinder walls and some compressed gases slides between them and ends up pressurizing the crankcase some. Then this pressurized gases may try to force oil out of seals, gaskets or elsewhere if the PCV can't handle the pressure. Sometime this is a result of poor maintainence and/or old age. The PCV system should suck a little of the vapors into the intake manifold. Hey I can be wrong! ;-) BTW If the FI Type 1s have their PCV system plugged, the engine can blow out

Clean that mesh area of the valve cover and make sure vapors can escape through it. Of course when you are cleaning it you will see the cleaning fluids going through it. Carb Cleaner or kerosene should work fine, but be careful with fumes and the black goop that will come out. And after you have cleaned and degreased all surfaces for the gasket, make sure the gasket is properly aligned and positioned along with the front and rear rubber seals/gaskets. You should be fine. Now are you using new gasket sets each time? Some use a little RTV on the front edges/tips of the cork gaskets where it touches the rubber seal/gasket. AFAIK You could change the studs and use the 94 Jetta 2.0 rubber valve cover gasket.

That is correct.

You're right of course. My dad called it blowby when the head gasket leaked and allowed mix of any combination of oil/antifreeze/combustion gases. The rings aren't a factor here. Kinda stuck in my head since then. For lack of a better term, I guess that's as good as any.

My mechanic friend suggested that I flush out my engine by running detergent oil for a while to clean out the engine because of blowback in valve cover. Fox88 has 200.000 miles on it can the engine take that purge???to get the garbage out.???? moony

If it can't, it's done anyway. I'd recommend using 15W40 Shell Rotella or Chevron Delo for a couple oil changes - actually those are my default oils anyway, I use 'em in both VWs and Studebakers. They really do a nice job of cleaning out dirty engines.

nate