Lot's of engine oil in air intake plenum?

[mtnet2000]

Okay I need some help here, They where replacing my valve cover gaskets (because they where leaking) today and I asked to see if I can see my engine while it was apart. When I went to the back of the shop I saw there was a lot of oil in my intake, actually it was all over and the oil was wet and oil was down inside the engine where this plenum connects to. The mechanic said this is normal! So basically the oil is being forced out the throttle body from the inside! Is this true for a 2002 V6 Camry w/39000 miles? And the best part is when I went to pick up my car, they told me to come back tommorow because the mechanic didn't seat the back gasket correctly, and when he started the engine oil went all over the place!!!
***56K Warning***

[yotatechie04]

Possibly some valve seals are leaking...I really don't think that this is normal. Any other time I've taken an intake off of a car, there's usually quite a bit of carbon and that's about it...never oil! Take it to a different shop and see what they say.

[mtnet2000]

That's what I was thinking, I would figure it can be a ring or valve. And when ever I removed the Plenum on my other cars there was just Carbon

[Brian R.]

Definitely not normal. Might be your PCV valve is causing this. Leaking valve seals would cause you to burn oil, but the oil shouldn't back up into the intake manifold. I seems like it would go directly from the top of the head through the seals into the combustion chamber.

Hard to say from those pictures, but it looks like some of the runners have much more oil in them than others. If the PCV valve is close to the runners that have the most oil, then that is a distinct possibility. Having alot of oil coming through your PCV valve would indicate you have alot of blow-by or overfilled your oil pan.

[yotatechie04]

Damn, Brian's right. I never even thought about the PCV valve. I actually kinda forgot about it...it's another one of those brain fart moments. I thought there was something funny about oil going in reverse from valve seals...then I just remembered that if it was the valves, it would burn oil...Damn, I hate it when my mind does that shit.