elbeee964

Pelican tune-up (valve cover seal) kit came with normal nuts.
Maintenance manual notes these nuts as self-locking type. (eg, nylon insert nuts)

(7 ft-lbs torque doesn't sound like a helluva lot of fastener preload to hold that free-spinning nut, but I'm going to install to that value.)

Anyone have warnings of normal nuts 'backing off' from valve covers?
A trip to the hardware store for locking nuts recommended?

Rennen

I'm surprised at that. I bought a kit from them last fall and it came with locking nuts. I would call them and ask for a replacement. It's a lot of work to tear it down to do a valve adjustment. Do it right to your satisfaction so you don't have to worry about it later on.

wsybert

My valve cover kit from Pelican came with locking nuts too. They were not nylon insert type. They are crushed slightly at the top to create an interference on the stud. Try threading one on by hand and see how far it goes on.... it should stop by hand, before the stud comes through.

elbeee964

I'll check those Pelican nuts, again, tonight to confirm if they're free-spinning. (But early this AM they seemed pretty easy spinners...)

Edit: Confirmed. They're all free-spinning nuts from Pelican. Will be calling Wed am.
Also discovered an unrelated, past wrench's laziness/idiocy: The lower right & left valve covers were switched when last reinstalled. (Spark plug wire clips gave this away. Spark plug wires were 'secured' rather non-stock as a result.)

Disassembling, my bottom cover had nylon locking nuts, plus those honking-thick aluminum washers...
While my top cover had free-spinning nuts w/ pitifully thin washers.

The Pelican kit came with enough thick washers (and free-spinning nuts) for all the valve cover positions.

Frankly, one of the reasons I do this stuff myself is for just this reason; undoing any weird, non-spec fasteners and bubblegum fixes that have accumulated by PO's wrenches putting things back together from bench scraps.

Till now, it's been trivial onesy, twoesy stuff.
Like missing, or goofy bolts at the cat heat shields, underbody or interior pick-up points... that sort of thing. .

Valve covers, though, ain't trivial... Ya know, Verne?

springer3

I am disappointed that Pelican appears to be providing non-spec nuts in their service package. We are talking pennies here, and you can have problems when you use inferior service parts. I would send it back.

My PO is "high net worth", and went to the Porsche dealer regularly and exclusively. He had gold-plated service records. In the first year driving the car I kept wondering what would come loose next. Poorly-adjusted glove box, a mis-operating switch, and the infernal air-bag warning were "fixed" several times each according to the service records.

Worse: I found two spark plug wires were crossed (I guess they figure that is OK since the car still ran fine). Two months after purchase, loose AC compressor hold-down bolts let the belt jump off and I got a hood dent. The dizzy belt was in shreads. I found damaged, missing, and incorrect fasteners everywhere the service receipts said work was done.

Like you I re-worked a lot of bad maintenance work and have the car back to original design. My reliability is great now. Porsche made an incredible car, but I don't think they invested in quality control for their dealer service.

elbeee964

Sounds like we could start a thread:
"Goofiest/Laziest/Stupidest maintainence you've ever found on your car (from past wrenches?)"


Latest maintainence klinker: it appears that only the lower left cam cover had nylon-insert nuts. The other 3 covers have free spinning nuts.
Makes me wonder if the last valve adjustment ever had that lower left cover off?
I mean, heck, that would involve removing four cat bolts and a muffler clamp. Hardly worth it, since those valve lashes are pretty steady, anyway...

elbeee964

Final Bump...

Pelican did right and refunded the cost of new anti-torque nuts.

(Well, it was only $3 for that many + 10 extra. Trivial cost. But Pelican done right.)
Valve adjustment, O2 sensor, rotors, caps, plugs, and tin repainting goes on....