Cylinder head gasket - driver’s side dirtier (2 Viewers)

[kravman4]

I just yanked the cylinder. Head covers off both sides in the driver side was significantly more soiled than the passenger side. You can somewhat see in the pictures attached. The passenger side cover is the one with almost 0 gunk on it. The other one is the driver side cover. The picture of the driver side is after I’ve hit it with degreaser four or five times. The dark spots is what the whole underside looked like when I pulled it off. Is it normal for the driver side to be significantly dirtier than the passenger side?

For context, both sides were leaking oil from the cover gasket and needed to be replaced

 

[andrewderrick]

PCV side

 

[excessive]

completely normal. that's a clean engine by the way

 

[kravman4]

completely normal. that's a clean engine by the way

Thank you! She’s in great shape, and definitely a keeper!

 

[Irishpilot]

Totally normal and you made my cleaning efforts look bad! I just degreased enough to get the grit off, and then slapped them back on. I was surprised at how brittle the gaskets were.