Valve cover seeping?

Hey,

I've got a 2016 4runner with just over 120k miles. When changing my oil the other day I noticed some stain marks around the passenger side valve cover. Then I noticed just below the valve cover and behind the serpentine belt was a decent build up of dirt and burnt oil I presume. Its definitely more of a dry dirt than I expected as it comes off fairly easily as you can see in the photos below but makes sense its attracting dirt if oil is on there. I am in the desert so a decent amount of dust builds up in the engine bay if I don't clean it frequently.

I haven't noticed the engine going through any oil, or at least not significant enough for it to move off the second dot yet on the dipstick when I check it periodically. No oil on the front skid plate or my garage, it appears to be localized to just the corner area of the valve cover (and below) and the leak/seeping is slow enough that it doesn't look like the belt is flinging it around. I did my spark plugs about two thousand miles ago and figured I would have noticed it but possible I didn't cause based on the photos its been happening for awhile or the leak is pretty egregious.

After doing some searching online seems like this amount of seeping is "normal". Based on what dealerships say and others experience and not to worry about it much as long as its not excessive or I am having to refill oil because of it. Assuming the valve cover is the culprit. What are your thoughts? Worth doing a valve cover gasket?

As of right now I am thinking of just cleaning the area the best I can, making sure the bolts are torqued to spec and keeping an eye on it to confirm where its coming from and how bad it is. Was thinking of throwing in some UV dye in the engine oil to help confirm that it is indeed the valve cover as well.




From passenger side (left of the intake):


From the bottom now:



Bottom of this tube is only tube with any dirt/oil deposits (you can kind of see it in second photo below):

 

I'd get some degreaser and wash the whole area clean. Then you should be able to see where it's leaking from better.

 

@Rob41 You think I could hit that area with a pressure washer or a garden nose nozzle to help clean it out? Sort of hard to get in there and give it a really good cleaning with all the tubing in the way.

 

Sure. Just try to spray some degreaser in there and don't get too crazy with the pressure washer......try to limit it to that area and you should be fine.