Ford NH 2120 oil dripping from valve cover tube

[smclaughlin81]

Afternoon everyone, I have a 1996 Ford NH 2120, under 900 hours, starts right up, runs good, has plenty of power. The other day I was grading my driveway and had stopped to pickup some rocks. When I got back on, I happened to look down on the right side on the ground and saw a small puddle of oil, black. I got off and came around the side and found it to be dripping from the valve cover breather tube. I raised the hood and removed the oil fill cap and oil was spitting out, not a ton, but enough to close it back up.

First thought, increased crankcase pressure, head gasket? I suppose if it failed between cylinders. Oil level was normal, actually probably a half quarter low, which it had been for awhile, so I felt good that it wasn't over full. So I dismissed hydraulic oil leaking in from the pump, diesel leaking inside the motor. Guess I'm looking for suggestions. I did order a compression test kit from Amazon, should be here today. Should I be looking at something else? Like I said, no noticeable change in performance.

 

[arto98607]

Over 20 years ago my Ford 1310 had a head gasket failure in the middle cylinder, but there was no external leak or no mixing of oil/coolant, just excessive venting from the breather hose.

The head gasket had a small failure and it was only in the area where there is a push rod opening, thus allowing some of the middle cylinder compression to escape to the valve cover area and be vented out to atmosphere with some oily mist!

I changed the gasket and it's been good ever since.

 

[smclaughlin81]

Over 20 years ago my Ford 1310 had a head gasket failure in the middle cylinder, but there was external leak or no mixing of oil/coolant, just excessive venting from the breather hose.

The head gasket had a small failure and it was only in the area where there is a push rod opening, thus allowing some of the middle cylinder compression to escape to the valve cover area and be vented out to atmosphere with some oily mist!

I changed the gasket and it's been good ever since.

That's reassuring, I'm going to check compression and see if that shows something. Thanks for the input!