Oil Leak Through VC Studs

[Phx Mike]

Everybody has their own solution for valve cover leaks and guys like Brent are the real experts. I recently fought this on my FE and here is what I did to solve it:

- Pull the cover and clean off ALL the old gasket material on the head, intake and on the valve cover. Check the finish on the sealing surface of the head and intake very carefully esp around the stud holes and use a stone to remove any burrs.
- Wait until your wife/significant other leaves and then place the valve cover on your kitchen surface plate (ie granite or quartz counter top). Make sure the cover is not warped and the seal flange is making good contact all the way around. If it is warped you can try to straighten it but hard to move the cast ones much
- Glue the new gasket to the valve cover using a THIN coat of permatex gasket SEALANT (not gasket MAKER).
- Put a bit of sealant on the head and intake sealing surface where the head and intake come together. On my engine there was a small step there and I could not get the covers to seal until I did that. You might want to put a bit around the studs too. If you don’t have solid lifters you can glue both sides of the gasket but it would be a real pain to clean it off if you ever need too. By the way Krud Kutter works great for removing the old sealant.
- Wait about 20 mins and put the cover on. By then the sealant will be tacky and the gaskets are less likely to move around
- torque down in star pattern. I actually torqued mine to maybe 8-10 ft lbs (ie pretty tight)
- wait 24 hours before starting

Hope it works.