Valve cover leak

-
Oldschoolcuda

Oldschoolcuda

Early-A Body Nerd
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
5,454
Reaction score
3,559
Location
Chesapeake, Va
I am having trouble stopping a small but persistant oil leak on the passenger side valve cover on the 273 in my Valiant. It is coming out around the lower middle valve cover bolt. Have changed gaskets, tried permatex around bolt & different bolts. It seems to only seep out after I have shut down the engine and is in just this one area. Any suggestions.

Thanks

Oldschoolcuda
 
If they are stamped steel have you tried lightly flattening the bolt hole area with a ballpeen hammer. Before I use the permatex I scuff the gasket surface on the cover and the head with 80 grit sand paper. I also use permatex on both the head and valvecover sides of the gasket (Im a little anal about valvecover leaks).
 
Oldschoolcuda said:
I am having trouble stopping a small but persistant oil leak on the passenger side valve cover on the 273 in my Valiant. It is coming out around the lower middle valve cover bolt. Have changed gaskets, tried permatex around bolt & different bolts. It seems to only seep out after I have shut down the engine and is in just this one area. Any suggestions.

Thanks

Oldschoolcuda
Click to expand...


I had the same problem when I first bought my car. It had a 273. All the intake bolts was leaking and I applied high temp RTV on the threads and the leaks stopped. Then one bolt on the passenger side started leaking again. Took it out and reapplied RTV and stopped the leak. The bolts are ARP bolts and I torqued them down to 40 ftlbs. I know this doesn't help any but I know exactly what you are experiencing. I don't see after all that you have tried that they shouldn't leak. Factory calls for non harding sealant but I always used RTV type stuff. I reinstalled the bolts and let it sit for a couple of days before I fired it up. I don't know if that would have anything to do with it but that's what I did.
 
Just an abstract thought:

Pull the valve cover and see if the drain holes are partially clogged. You might have oil pooling inside the head which will contribute to a small seep looking like a huge leak.

Just a thought to go with everyone elses suggestions.
 
360scamp said:
If they are stamped steel have you tried lightly flattening the bolt hole area with a ballpeen hammer. Before I use the permatex I scuff the gasket surface on the cover and the head with 80 grit sand paper. I also use permatex on both the head and valvecover sides of the gasket (Im a little anal about valvecover leaks).
Click to expand...

He has a 273 in which the intake bolts are at a different angle than regular intake bolts and they are bad about leaking. The oil most likely is coming out from around the bolts or bolt in his case.

Heck you might as well Liquid Nail the suckers on next time! :-D jking
 
Over torqueing the bolts will make that happen turn them over bang them back flat. Also look for cracks in the bolt hole area. Over torqueing will some times smash it so hard it cuts the covers making a leak. Get them strate put good gaskets on and DON'T OVER TORQUE THEM. Just put your hand on the top of the rachett and just go hand tight. Repeat that after you drive it for about 3 times. Should be good after that.
 
GoodysGotaCuda said:
holy cow, 40ft/lb? I did end up making 'studs' out of 1/4-20 all thread on my engine
Click to expand...


I was talking about the intake bolts. I did some changing on my first post.

I bet it is leaking around the intake bolt. Every bolt on my lil 273 was leaking before I did something about it.
 
Couple things here.

As another person stated,turn the cover upside down and tap the holes back out with a ball peen hammer.

The other trick is to throughly clean the gasket surface on the valve cover.
Then get some gasket cinch and apply it to the valve cover and the valve cover gasket.Let sit for a couple minutes and then put the gasket on the valve cover.Then I set it on a clean flat surface with some weight on it.Let sit overnight. Now it is ready to put back on. I dont use any sealant between the head and valve cover. This is what the gasket is for.

Good luck
 
I had problems with my valve covers leaking right after I rebuilt the engine using Fel-Pro gaskets. They were the rubber ones. Tried 2 sets and both the same. Went to Autozone and bought a set of old time cork style gaskets and that stopped the leak. I know cork don't last as long because they dry out and get brittle but they sure sealed up mine better. I've even taken them off a couple of times and reused them and still no leaks. It looked like the rubber ones didn't conform to the shape of the head as good.
 
GoodysGotaCuda said:
holy cow, 40ft/lb? I did end up making 'studs' out of 1/4-20 all thread on my engine
Click to expand...

I noticed that too... 40 inch pounds maybe, but i'd bet that if you tried to put 40 ft/lb on valve cover bolts they would snap before you got anywhere close to that torque number! (no matter what material they were made of!)
 
Thanks for the tips. I am using the felpro rubber gaskets thinking this would be the way to go since I adjust valve lash maybe twice a year. My covers are in good shape so I am thinking a change to cork gaskets will cure my leak. Use the cork on my cuda & have no probs.

Oldschoolcuda
 
I like cork.....

Like I stated earlier,glue the gasket to the valve cover.
I use gaska cinch by Edelbrock.
Problem solved.

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top