Oil Leak from Top of Engine and the Solution is...

[Satin]

Kia Rio 2015 with odo 240k miles.
Fixed with only $45 by replacing valve cover gasket, and gaining an insights onto how healthy camshaft is (even though it was sludgy) the cam surfaces looked like mirror without scoring, i bit surprising at this mileage.

I thought it'd be a bigger money pit.

Turned out simpler than initially thought.

Kia seems to manufacture very low quality stuff when it comes to seals and gaskets

 

[JavierH19]

What drain intervals did this sludge hole see? I know they and other brands recommend some absurd drain interval lengths over in europe.

 

[Satin]

What drain intervals did this sludge hole see? I know they and other brands recommend some absurd drain interval lengths over in europe.

I have changed engine oil at every 3k miles with 10w30 96% of the time

 

[JavierH19]

I have changed engine oil at every 3k miles with 10w30 96% of the time

Even with 3k intervals it still looks like this? wow.

 

[Satin]

Even with 3k intervals it still looks like this? wow.

It's non synthetic oil (that's probably why it's bad)

 

[JavierH19]

How much oil does it burn. And what's a nice high saps 30 or 40 grade diesel oil you can get over there. I know castrol vectron hdeo is usually cheap but well additized in europe. Hdeo cleaned up my dirty rings and internals but my heads never looked like that either. I only had light to medium varnish. No dark varnish or sludge.

 

[TnT_M]

highly doubtful Kia manufacturers the seals and gaskets even if they are in Kia OEM packaging. Someone else does it for them. I don't think you can complain with over 200k on the clock.

 

[JavierH19]

It's non synthetic oil (that's probably why it's bad)

Even with brand name conventional I would never expect this amount of sludge unless it was some high output turbo gdi engine which this isn't. If i was told how a small NA port injected kia engine would look like after 240k with 3k mile conventional oil changes i'd say there would be light to mostly medium varnish to maybe some dark varnish at most or a bit of sludge in the hard to reach corners but not this at all. Only with brand name synthetic would I expect between none to light yellow varnish.

 

[Satin]

How much oil does it burn. And what's a nice high saps 30 or 40 grade diesel oil you can get over there. I know castrol hdeo is usually cheap but well additized in europe. Hdeo cleaned up my dirty rings but my heads never looked like that either.

Surprisingly it doesn't burn any noticable amount of oil.. I have fed it with Valvoline Restore and Protect now and it's been like 300 miles since ..

I have always been gentle and slow on the gas paddle to an extent where it annoys very much everyone around on the road.

 

[Satin]

Even with brand name conventional I would never expect this amount of sludge unless it was some high output turbo gdi engine which this isn't. If i was told how a small NA port injected kia engine would look like after 240k with 3k mile conventional oil changes i'd say there would be light to mostly medium varnish to maybe some dark varnish at most or a bit of sludge in the hard to reach corners but not this at all. Only with brand name synthetic would I expect between none to light yellow varnish.

I have used Total Quartz on every oil change. Probably some of it is counterfeit that's why it made a lot of sludge

 

[Satin]

Even with brand name conventional I would never expect this amount of sludge unless it was some high output turbo gdi engine which this isn't. If i was told how a small NA port injected kia engine would look like after 240k with 3k mile conventional oil changes i'd say there would be light to mostly medium varnish to maybe some dark varnish at most or a bit of sludge in the hard to reach corners but not this at all. Only with brand name synthetic would I expect between none to light yellow varnish.

I have used Total Quartz on every oil change. Probably some of it is counterfeit that's why it made a lot of sludg

 

[Satin]

highly doubtful Kia manufacturers the seals and gaskets even if they are in Kia OEM packaging. Someone else does it for them. I don't think you can complain with over 200k on the clock.

It's unpractical to replace seals and gaskets even at high mileage

 

[cptbarkey]

The mileage and respective heat cycles are what deteriorated the gaskets. Good job with the repair.

 

[D60]

VC gasket leaks seem really common on Kias of this era. At least it's an easy job

 

[CleanSump]

VC Gaskets deteriorating over that mileage and age is common to many manufacturers. I've scraped quite a few hardened, leaking ones from various car brands from US, Japan, and Europia.
Valvoline Restore and Protect will remove that black goop. I bought a Blazer V6 that looked just like that and plain Vanilla Mobile 1 5W-30 cleaned it out in two or thee 5k changes. It still had reddish varnish, but the black goop was totally gone.

 

[SC Maintenance]

The under valve covers in my Xterra pics are below in my footer. They have never had synthetic.

Seems like a H/K thing. Good work fixing the leak.

VC1 IMG_1148.webp

• SC Maintenance
• Nov 14, 2025

 

[TijY_]

How much oil does it burn. And what's a nice high saps 30 or 40 grade diesel oil you can get over there. I know castrol vectron hdeo is usually cheap but well additized in europe. Hdeo cleaned up my dirty rings and internals but my heads never looked like that either. I only had light to medium varnish. No dark varnish or sludge.

I think he is over in Asia/Thailand/NZ/Australia.

Cant find Total Quartz 10W30 in any of my usual stores.

 

[BHopkins]

highly doubtful Kia manufacturers the seals and gaskets even if they are in Kia OEM packaging. Someone else does it for them. I don't think you can complain with over 200k on the clock.

Yes, but Kia surely defines the specifications for the gaskets and seals, just as they do for every other part they buy from suppliers. Having worked for a couple automotive suppliers, I am confident that Kia specifies material, design, construction, etc.

 

[Donald]

Looks like a sludge monster to me. I would switch to.synthetic. Even SuperTech synthetic or NAPA synthetic would be better.

You are at the point now where the sludge has not caused any real damage but you don't want the engine getting any more sludge.

No flush additives.

AutoRx to the rescue?

 

[Auto tech]

That valve train looks horrible, looks like it's had some extended ocis