My 95 Trooper has the SOHC 3.2L engine and the valve cover leak that was minor a few days ago is getting noticeably worse...

The leak appeared when I switched from NAPA 5W30 Synthetic to Mobil1 0W40. My engine has less than 36K miles on it, so I'm not too worried about impossible to reach o-rings or anything else--just getting the oil leak stopped. The oil drips onto the exhaust manifold and you get a good whiff of it whenever you stop for a red light after the engine is warm. My carsick-prone wife really doesn't like it...

I have the factory service manual and have noticed that it makes no mention of gaskets for anything. How convenient.

I have oil in the spark plug well of cylinder #6 (or it it #1? - it's the front-most passenger side cylinder) as well as a leak at the outside rear corner on the passenger side. Is there a separate gasket/o-ring that seals the spark plug well or will this be included in the VC gasket set?

The "common chamber" (aka plenum, basically the top half of the intake manifold) also has to be removed. Isn't it convenient that this gasket is part of the intake manifold gasket set... I don't plan to remove the entire IM unless someone here gives me a good reason to do so. Anyone?

It appears that I have to remove the EGR valve to do the job, so new EGR gaskets & a good EGR cleaning are probably part of the process.

Have I missed anything?

edited - added bold to emphasize critical question

I don't have this engine or vehicle, but I recall talk of new plug wires that seal the spark plug well. I think this was either a recall or TSB. And it might not even be for your engine. Try a search and hopefully someone will chime in with the correct info.

There's been talk on the WEB about new wires for the 6VD1 motor. I bought them a few years back. They more or less look the same, but fit very tight - much tighter than the orig. the vehicle came with. Maybe that addressed the oil issue.

I never had the problem, even with the orig. wires.

yes, the $27 valve cover gasket will have those attached. It's a very fun job...quite a bonding experience for you and your Trooper. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

i did this job a few weeks ago (well, one side anyway) and while it looks like a <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />, it's really more of a <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />. my gaskets came separately and there are special o-rings for the spark plug tubes. the heater hoses on the backside (passenger) were the hardest thing to take apart and i still didn't get one of the bolts on the hose bracket back into the end of the valve cover. i went to M1 about two years ago and stuff is really leaking now. oil pan is up next( but the "tick" is gone! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />)YMMV

Consider me & my Trooper well bonded. The job took close to 11 hours!!! The biggest obstacles were the engine hanger on the passenger side (the exhaust manifold heat shield was nearly impossible to remove, indeed I never got it off) and the high pressure fuel hose was really hard to get off. Then, after getting it all apart, the gasket simply wouldn't stay in place long enough to get the passenger side VC back on the head.

In the end, I didn't have any extra parts--not even a single nut or bolt--and it appears that I have fixed my oil leak. I ended up re-using the throttle body gasket, apparently without any problems.

Bonding experience--I guess that's one way to put it. I wonder what the dealer charges for installing new valve covers...

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

And the 2.6 guys think they have a lot of stuff in the way of the valve cover. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />