is coolant leak related to valve cover gasket leak?

jpr-nj · #1 06-20-2008, 04:39 PM

my apology for probably a dumb question.... its just that my extended warranty (aftermarket) "autosource" would'nt cover the valve cover gasket repair/replacement because they say its not related to the coolant leak and my 01 3.0 had a slight overheating due to very low coolant levels...

hope you guys a can help out...

the x is at the dealer now and just waiting for the go to repair...

thanks in advance

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jpr-nj · #2 06-20-2008, 04:46 PM

oh and by the way the X has around 74k miles and runs quite well/smoothly except for the recent collant leak i noticed in my garage... other than that the X has been good and absolute worth it... thanks

onlinealias · #3 06-20-2008, 05:06 PM

I tend to agree with them, valve cover gaskets have nothing to do with a coolant leak. Head gasket, valley pan gasket maybe, but strictly speaking what is wrong here is your dealer is trying to fix something that has nothing to do with with your leak.

I suspect what is going on is the dealer has miscommunicated what they are actually going to do. No dealer certified mechanic (even a BMW one) is that stupid.

(Edit: Oop you said 3.0. No valley pan gasket.)

jpr-nj · #4 06-20-2008, 07:21 PM

ok... thanks for the reply... just have to decide if i'll have it done there or outside indi shop till tomorrow... thanks again for the clarifiction...

lo_jack · #5 06-23-2008, 11:24 AM

Yes they are non related. The valve cover gaskets hold oil in the valve covers. No coolant goes up to the valve covers, only oil. At the same time, oil should not be in your coolant. That would either be an intake manifold gasket leak or a blown head gasket. That would be much worse.

If you were low on coolant, I would want to know why. 01 3.0 has a well know problem with the water pump, and a plastic thermostat housing. Either of those could lead to consumption of coolant. I would start asking questions about the coolant problem and see if they can give you a good answer as to why that was happening.

BTW you can do the valve cover gasket on your own, it is fairly straight forward - but there is usually a reason for THAT to leak as well, and on an 01 3.0 it is usually the oil sperator. You need to figure out if they will look into that.

jst2878 · #6 06-23-2008, 12:14 PM

valve cover gasket leaks are caused by a build up of oil pressure commonly related with the oil seperator. In freezing temperature the oil seperator hoses freeze and block the flow of the venting oil out of the seperator. Thats probably why you have oil leaks

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