Toyota Camry: Valve Cover Gasket

No harm, engine might get a little dirty.
you could try tightening the big hold
downs on the cover to snug it up a bit..
These are what the plug wires go thru.

I had exact case. I did not notice it early and resulted in:

1) Car O2 sensors became sluggish due to some oil vapor getting to it over
time. O2 sensors need to breath so avoid oil, water, and cooling water from
reaching them.
2) Carbon deposits built up in EGR and Throttle Body once O2 sensors became
sluggish. I had to replace EGR Valve and clean Throttle Body and Air Intake
Chamber.

I would say fix it now before you get further failures.

"Marc" <com> wrote in message
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>I had exact case. I did not notice it early and resulted in: 

Your problems were unrelated to a small valve cover oil leak.
Sounds like you had excess oil going into the combustion
chambers getting to the O2 sensor in the exhaust system.
Oil dripping from the valve cover is on the outside of the engine.
Replacing that valve cover gasket is about the easiest and
cheapest repair that the owner could do himself.

Oil and dirt overtime reached wires and outside surface of one O2 sensor,
read what auto tap has to say about O2 sensors:

"The outside of the bulb is exposed to the hot gases in the exhaust while
the inside of the bulb is vented internally through the sensor body to the
outside atmosphere. Older style oxygen sensors actually have a small hole in
the body shell so air can enter the sensor, but newer style O2 sensors
"breathe" through their wire connectors and have no vent hole. It’s hard to
believe, but the tiny amount of space between the insulation and wire
provides enough room for air to seep into the sensor (for this reason,
grease should never be used on O2 sensor connectors because it can block the
flow of air). Venting the sensor through the wires rather than with a hole
in the body reduces the risk of dirt or water contamination that could foul
the sensor from the inside and cause it to fail. The difference in oxygen
levels between the exhaust and outside air within the sensor causes voltage
to flow through the ceramic bulb. The greater the difference, the higher the
voltage reading."

"The sensor can also be damaged by environmental factors such as water,
splash from road salt, oil and dirt."

http://www.autotap.com/articles/Understanding_Oxygen_Sensors.html



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