After reading an old thread i think i discovered the problem on my car, and why there was some oil on the upper rear of the head. I'm pretty sure its the valve cover gasket leaking... I checked the bolts on there and they all seem tight, so its not that easy of a fix.

I plan to change the gasket myself and i'm wondering, 1) if any other simple little gaskets should be changed while doing this and 2) what exactly is involved in this job?

Thanks for the responses in advance!
Erich

 

Its really not a tough job, you have to remove the fuel rail, then remove all the bolts that hold on the valve cover.. Put grease on the end of the allen wrench, to hold the bolt as you pull it out of the cover. Or else it could fall down and cause problems. Then, once you have all the bolts out of the valve cover, you want to tip the cover towards the pasenger side of the car then lift it off. (You want to try to keep the lifters from falling out, mine all fell on the ground when I did it) Then, you just do the reverse to put it back in.. its not a big deal. Unfortunatly, you have to take the tension off the timing belt to do it... But thats not too big of a deal either. Replace the cork gasket at the rear of the cam tower while its out, its a major fail point. Good luck.

 

Erich - this will most likely be the terrible cork gasket at the rear of the cam tower.

 

Ok i'll replace the cork gasket at the same time. And my car will be due for a timing belt change so i'll do them both at once. I wasn't sure what was involved in the job now i get it. Thanks for the input and advice.

Later!
Erich

 

dont get too upset when the lifters bounce off the garage floor and the passenger side of the engine gets showered with oil. to help minimize this you may want to stuff some towels alongside the cam cover and under the car.

p.s.
when i did this as part of my belt change, one of the bolt caps in the cam cover was frozen to the point that it would not come out and the aluminum is really soft, so the hex head socket was stripped in no time. vice grips, easy out, nothing broke it free. The end result was drilling it through to release radial pressure and it finally gave free. But it also put aluminum fillings into the cam area and necessitated cleaning off everything. Not difficult to deal with - justnot expected and one of the things that can happen.

 

Thanks for all the input so far. I'll make sure to be careful when i take the cover off. I just ordered the valve gasket and the rear cork gasket. The dealer also mentioned a few (4) gaskets that are on the front of the cam, would anyone recommend changing those out as well?

Thanks!
Erich