I'M IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGING MY VALVE COVER GASKET, HERE'S THE DEAL, I'M USED TO THE "OLD SCHOOL" VALVE COVER GASKETS, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME CHANGING THE UPDATED VERSION. IM VERY MECHANICALLY ENCLINED I JUST DONT KNOW IF I SHOULD USE RTV SEALANT WHEN I INSTALL THE GASKET TO THE VALVE COVER, HOW SHOULD THIS BE DONE? ANY SUGGESTIONS OR SOLUTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
I sold the car (2000 Zetec) but when I changed the valve cover gasket i didn't use oil or RTV. Just put it on dry.
After I found out the seapage could be due to the valve cover bolts lostening slightly.
I say check the torque on the valve cover bolts first. Can't remember if it 7 or 12 foot pounds (might even be 9 foot pounds)? The head is aluminum and can strip out easy so don't put to much force into it.
thanks for the input guys! two days of interstate driving and no leaks. ive already ordered an aluminum valve cover for the zetec, had it overnited, will i still be able to use the new gasket after a few days of driving?
I have almost 145K miles on my ZX3 with the original gasket. It is perfectly dry. Not evfen a sign of sepage. Maybe because I use synthetic oil since it had 1500 miles on it. I use Amsoil 0 -30 all year round.
Last edited on Thu Mar 20th, 2008 10:15 pm by esseff
