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Whistling from under valve covers when shut off?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DemonGT
  • Start date Start date May 31, 2005

DemonGT

Founding Member
May 24, 2002
871
51
49
Sparta,WI
May 31, 2005
#1
  • May 31, 2005
  • #1
last summer i noticed when i shut my car off i could hear a whistleing from the air filter...i had a closed breather cap on one valve cover with the PCV in the other..i removed the breather cap all together....i also readjusted my rocker arms...now when i shut the car off i hear a whistleing from under the valve covers? is this normal or nothing to worry about?
 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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May 31, 2005
#2
  • May 31, 2005
  • #2
it can be normal.
 

hllon4whls

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Founding Member
Jan 17, 2002
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Covington
May 31, 2005
#3
  • May 31, 2005
  • #3
It just means that you have a good seal in the engine and everywhere else. Without a breather, the PCV is drawing a vacuum in the crankcase and up through the valve covers through the oil drain holes.

I would say that with your config that this is normal and nothing to worry about. I would consider it a good sign.
 

DemonGT

Founding Member
May 24, 2002
871
51
49
Sparta,WI
Jun 1, 2005
#4
  • Jun 1, 2005
  • #4
this is what i was told by some one on the corral

"I think what's happening is that you're pulling a vacuum on the crankcase through the pcv. When the engine runs for a long period of time at idle, light cruise, deceleration, the pcv is constantly 'sucking' on the crank case. With no breather - there's no way for air to get into the crankcase - the whistling you're hearing is air being 'sucked' into an evacuated crankcase through whatever nook/cranny it can find, same symptom after long cruises - 'whistling' past valve cover gaskets, front or rear crank seals, etc. - whatever the 'weakest' link is - that's where the air will seep in. I'd guess the whistling stops once pressures outside and inside the crankcase equalize. Next time it's doing it - pop the pcv out and see if the whistling stops as air whooshes in filling the crankcase. On a race car that's tended to and regularly maintained, evacuated crankcases are one thing. On a street car, I'd want to get that fixed. Over the long run, it's not doing the gaskets/seals any favors - they weren't designed to seal against that. Put a functional breather on the other side if you're gonna run the pcv. Alternatively, just ventilate the crankcase into a catch can."
 
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