Michael Gallini:
Hey guys, it’s Michael Gallini, here at your auto shop in Plano, Texas. Today we had a customer bring a vehicle in with two different complaints. One of the complaints is that he’s smelling a burning smell while driving down the road, and more prominently it’s noticed when he’s at stoplights. Upon the inspection, we did find the valve cover gasket is leaking on it. The valve cover gasket is a very commonly [inaudible 00:00:21] item that happens on any of the European cars. It seems like it’s more towards the BMWs and N54s, the N55s, and the N20s, not excluding the V-8 cars, because it is something that also happens on them. I want to go over some of the processes and some of the procedures that go in with replacing the gasket itself.

Michael Gallini:
First of all, as you can see, we like to crash wrap every single one of our vehicles, and the reason we do this is to keep from scratches and other types of debris to get into the paint and whatnot. Why don’t you come over here and lets take a look at what’s involved. I don’t have any before pictures to go over to show you what is done, but we will attach some pictures so you guys can see. As you can see right here, the valve cover is removed from the vehicle. Basically, what the valve cover is, is a plastic piece that goes over the top of the engine. What it does is it keeps the oil inside of the car, it keeps things lubricated, and gives a splash shield, because where the oil does leak is it leaks onto the exhaust manifold, and that’s where the smell of everything comes from. Fortunately, on this vehicle, it’s not to the point where I feel like it’s gotten onto any of the hoses and it’s started to cause them to deteriorate in a way, because oil will, when it’ll get into the hoses, it’ll turn it into a mush-type filling. You’ll start to experience different leaks from that, and so on and so forth.

Michael Gallini:
As you can see right now, I think we’re in the safe zone, and the next step in this process is for the cover to be put back on the vehicle with a new gasket. We clean everything off from top to bottom, we perform anywhere from a five to seven mile test drive, we bring the vehicle back into the shop, and we go back over the repair in which we did. If there’s anything I can do for you, whether it comes to maintenance work, to performance work, to really any and everything, we’re here for you guys and we’d love to earn your business. You can reach us at (214) 552-4194. I hope you guys have a great and wonderful day.