i have a dodge dakota, i know this isn't ford but i had no where else to turn and you all are great with my questions. It has a 3.9 V6. there is an oil leak right near the valve cover. Can this be caused by a worn valve cover gasget? Also, if it was the head gasget would the truck still run?

 

It could be a valve cover gasket. You should get a new one and throw it on there. Not being a dodge person, I dont know how hard it is to get to, but it shouldn't be too hard. I also dont know how much the torque spec is, but I'd recommend about 5 ft-lbs. Get a good gasket sealer such as Permatex High-Tack. It's the red goop (a.k.a. snot). Apply to the valve cover, stick the gasket to the valve cover, then coat the gasket. Then line up the bolt holes, then slap it on the engine. Torque down the bolts and you're done.

Dont forget to clean the inside of the valve cover while it's out!

 

If you had a blown head gasket you would be getting some kind of smoke out the tailpipe, most likely white from burning antifreeze.

 

yeah thats what scares me.. there was smoke coming out of the tailpipes. It wasn't started for a month or so, so i expected it to stop after a couple minutes of running. But it continued to smoke out of the hood and the tail pipes... Only a little though after a couple of mintues.

 

I would say it is just a bad valve cover gasket, The 3.9L are very good engine, A friend of mine had 359,000 miles on it, It wasnt running very good so we were going to pull the motor out. We started tearing into it and found that two spark plug wires were off, We desided to change the plugs and wires and it ran like new.