I can't stop my damn passenger side valve cover from leaking oil all over the place and fouling my plugs. I've switched covers 3 times, bought 4 different valve cover gaskets, now using fel-pro perma-seals, and i've tried valve cover clamps, even scraping the head down with a razor blade. I swear i'm not over tightening the bolts, and theres still oil running down the head all over my exhaust manifold and onto the plugs. Any ideas? <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
well this only started happening after i put these chrome valve covers on. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
U could do it all again and when everything is all clean, fire her up and watch to see where the oil starts coming from. Wrong gaskets maybe???
if you bought those chrome covers from ebay .....they will leak !! the metal just bends and doesn't seal well to the head.
A lot of the cheaper chrome valve covers just wont seal. What I use to do years and years ago is to sand the gasket area of the valve cover down, put lots of permatex on the bottom of the valve cover (after it tacks) and tighten careful so that all that permatex didn't squish out and make a mess or cause the gasket to spit out.
chrome doesnt seal for crap. have somebody sandblast the lip. also try the cover w/o anything to see if it sits flat. even try some clay and push hard down on it and then see if you have any low or high spots.
I know this is a more expensive cure, but the cast aluminum valve covers work great, I have them on mine (because of roller rockers) and have had them on and off multiple times with the same gaskets with zero leaks. What everybody has said about chrome "covers" is correct, they will leak, chrome is too hard and smooth for anything to "get a grip" on it, plus the sheetmetal there typically made of is very thin, and as said before, they will deform when you start tightening the fasteners. Mark
Thanks guys. I think it may be a combination of the chrome and the gaskets. Not that theres anything wrong with the gaskets, but i noticed that they didn't sit right on the head when i put them on "correctly", so i flipped them around and that seems to work better. I'll try sanding the lip of the valve cover and go from there. Thanks! <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
I think you will be happy with the results if you sand it. I always took all the chrome off with some sand paper. Doesn't take long and gives a good surface to bind to.
Just like everyone else said The chrome will leak. Sand it down and use that 3M weatherstrip adhesive. This stuff works great. Just glue it to the valve cover only then the next time you take it off it will stick to the valve cover and not to the head so much and will come right off. I thought there was a product I seen somewhere that was a ring you could put over the valve cover that was about 1/8 in. thick and would help hold down the cover.
I think you can change the wrong parts.Pay attention to the leaking place, find the root cause. Good luck,
