Duke wrote: >black smoke (oil) comes pouring out of the back of my car. ... I replaced my valve cover gaskets >thinking this would get rid of the problem but its still there. It comes from the back of the engine >compartment towards the driver's side. Did you recently service the airconditioner pulley bearings? Underneat the mess of brackets holding them in place is a cam end cover plate with an o-ring under it. It is held in place by the same screws that hold those a/c pulleys in place. If you have the parts manual look at item 3 and 4 on page 1/1/4., then look at page 7/2/1 and you'll see the same cover plate in "ghosted" form. You probably dropped out the o-ring or it has come apart over time. dave