New to the forum-somehow I managed to post this under "introductions" so I apologize for being a boob, but here goes again-I'm hoping somebody can give me some direction on a problem with a 90 Cherokee with the 4.0. I'm getting constant smell of oil/burning oil coming through vents. Truck has 124000 miles and burns very little oil. The valve and head gaskets show signs of seepage but nothing major. Engine has been cleaned thoroughly. Just replaced the entire exhaust save for the manifold-there were no signs of oil burning on exhaust. Manifold appears to have no signs of oil on it-dry as a bone. The only thought I have is the valve cover could be leaking on the backside, ie, I should replace gasket-any advice or similar experiences? Thanks all in advance!

 

I just replaced my valve cover gasket at 99k miles on my '00. These things are very reliable when it comes to the valve cover gasket developing a leak around or just after 100k miles. Seems like most guys have had to/need to replace theirs, and mine was leaking on the back side as well.

With that being said, I did not get a smell of oil coming in my vents, however I guess if yours was leaking on the manifold side, it might be getting hot enough to burn off and coming through there. I could smell a slight burnt oil smell when I had my windows down though and going sorta slow.