valve cover leak ....again

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:46 am

well it wasnt even 10,000 miles ago i replaced my right side head gasket and valve cover gasket, the head was leaking water, so i changed the valve cover gatket while i had it off

it leaking oil good now, i dont drive it much so not much has gone out but it drips on the garage floor over night, put in 1/2qt today (first time in a while)

did i get a bad gasket maybe? i tightened it up once but its as tight as it gets. could it be coming from the cam and not the valve cover? i tought i replaced that to though

isotopeman · Post by **isotopeman** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:52 am

What do you mean about the tightening? You should tighten it up in a certain manner. The details are in most manuals, but in a nutshell, here it is.
tighten snug enough to hold the head in place. tighten a lot to form the gasket to the head and block. loosen the nuts to where they barely hold the head on. tighten them back up, the middle ones more than the outer. tighten the heck out of them. tighten them a little more.
Did you use a torque wrench and follow the steps in the book, or just tighten them up real well? It's a pain, but it is necessary to do the procedure right.

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:50 am

ive never heard of doing that, i just torqued it down once
how do i get it right? i dont want to have to get another gasket

Carbix · Post by **Carbix** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:24 pm

it could also come from your oil filler stem. grab it and see if it moves. look at the seal as u do it

waldo320 · Post by **waldo320** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:07 am

Well I just did a dohc swap and I am having the same problem and I torqued the heads using the proper sequence. The valve covers are as tight as they go with new gaskets. The only thing I could think of would be the the cam gear seal, but I just put new one's in? So just clean everything up really good and see if the oil is comming from the head gasket aera, or the valve cover aera.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:24 am

isotopeman wrote:What do you mean about the tightening? You should tighten it up in a certain manner. The details are in most manuals, but in a nutshell, here it is.
tighten snug enough to hold the head in place. tighten a lot to form the gasket to the head and block. loosen the nuts to where they barely hold the head on. tighten them back up, the middle ones more than the outer. tighten the heck out of them. tighten them a little more.
Did you use a torque wrench and follow the steps in the book, or just tighten them up real well? It's a pain, but it is necessary to do the procedure right.

hes talking about the valve covers, not the heads themselves.

isotopeman · Post by **isotopeman** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:08 am

Splinter wrote:hes talking about the valve covers, not the heads themselves.

Ahh. That's much simpler. I thought I was going to have to find my book to answer his question.

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:10 pm

well i wiped them off this morning, so i geuss i'll check it some time later
the dip stick didnt move, its on the wrong side anyway, its my right side i think is leaking
i managed to get them maybe a 1/8 turn tighter, last time they didnt move at all

thanks for your help guys

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:21 pm

The valve cover bolts should only be like 6 or 9 ft/lbs (I forget). They seem like they may not be tight enough to not fall out with vibration, but they won't leak.

Murphy · Post by **Murphy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:51 pm

will over tightening cause a leak?
i wish i had a torque wrench, would make it alot easier

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:32 am

Yeah, I think it bows the covers out at the sides and prevents a good seal. All I know is that mine leaked when I tightened them too much. Without a torque wrench just tighten them until they seem like they're just tight enough to hold without feeling like it's distorting the cover. Once you've used a torque wrench a bit it's easy to kind of gauge it by hand, but hopefully that'll give you an idea.

schspeedster · Post by **schspeedster** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:58 am

When I replaced valve covers, had to buy O-ring seals for the bolts separate from the valve cover gaskets, did they come with your gasket?

There is also a plug sealed by an O-ring on the back of the passenger side (LHD) N/A head that leaks oil, easy to replace.

Torque wrench is a must-have when bolting aluminum engine parts & gaskets together. This might not be Snap-On quality but better than guessing & costs less than replacing a warped cast aluminum engine part:

3/8'' DRIVE CLICKER TORQUE WRENCH - $19.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... number=807

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valve cover leak ....again

valve cover leak ....again