Darrell, there was some dirty, old oil residue in there before the valve job. Perhaps this has been going on for a while. But what's troubling is the air filter is new and it hasn't been driven too much, and there was a fresh blob of oil on the filter. Apparently the problem is worse than before.

I think I'll run a compression test and see what the deal is. The blow-by theory is kind of what I thought might be going on as well. I was hoping someone would say it was something else less problematic ;) Any other theories would be appreciated

I just posted a picture at the civic 77 site under member Rob Berkovitz

By Darrell--Arizona-- (68.109.151.121) on Monday, March 07, 2005 - 10:06 am:

Does blow-by accur on the bottom end? If this is the case, then compression is leaking around the piston. It presurizes the crankcase and blows air out the top.

I'm not totally sure what I'm talking about, but I've heard blow-by before. Maybe a compression check should be made.

By Darrell--Arizona-- (68.109.151.121) on Monday, March 07, 2005 - 10:01 am:

Hopefully I'm wrong....but uhhhh

You say you just had a valve job. What would happen if your valves were adjusted too close to the lobes.... Your valves would never close totally and you would get blow-by from your pistons which would blow oil out and into your filter


Maybe somebody else has a different oppinion, but it doesn't look good to me. Did you have oil in your filter before the valve job?

By Zippy (Zippy) (69.248.156.35) on Monday, March 07, 2005 - 09:48 am:

The air/oil separator on the top of the rocker arm cover may be filled with crud. When this happens a lot of oil makes it through. Take off the rocker arm cover and remove the separator unit and clean it out and everthing should be ok. Be aware that there is a gasket with the separator.

By bruce (68.156.75.44) on Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 05:32 pm:

no its not bad, sometimes it collects moisture......nothing to worry about

By Rojanko (Rojanko) (24.8.195.166) on Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 05:26 pm:

Hello. I have a 77 CVCC which has recently had a new head gasket and a valve job. It seems to be running well, but there is some oily/greasy stuff building up in the air cleaner. It's coming from the liquid/vapor separator on top of the valve cover via the condensation chamber underneath the air cleaner. Is this a horribly bad thing to experience? Thanks!