Post-Valve Cover Gasket replacement on my 02 Sonata GLS

Oct 25, 2012 4 Replies

Ouch, my back friggin' hurts. But, the good news is it wasn't too bad. It took me a total of 6 hours to do it myself. Note to others, I think the correct torque *is* 4ft/lbs, not what Autozone says in their instructions (6-7.4ft/lbs). I found a decent and cheap torque wrench from Park Tools, the TW-1. It measures 0-60 inch pounds but conversion is pretty easy. I have to say that if any of you ever attempt this, take lots of pictures of before-removal positions of things and be mindful of where the screws go. To get at the right valve cover (the one furthest back), I had to remove a *bunch* of stuff. The screws at the bottom of the plate that holds up the intake manifold are a bitch to get at if you've got fat fingers. A couple of hoses were so stiff they cracked going back in so watch out for that. I think they were the breather hoses and the host from the air intake. I'm astounded I did it but it saved me $500 bucks. Oh yeah, and you should also buy the intake manifold gasket too while you're doing the job since when you remove it has flecks come off the surface of the old gasket. It's only a couple bucks.


- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]


$83/hour. Not a bad rate. Congrats.

Excellent! And its always a good feeling to know that it was done right.

Heh, well, it's only been 2 days. Yesterday one of the spark plug wires I changed came off but that was easy to fix. Must not have pushed it down far enough on the...distributor? If it goes a month and nothing blows up I'll then agree with that "done right" statement, at least for a rookie 1st-timer. If I had someone with me filming I would have posted a how-to on Youtube for the rest of the planet.

Yeah, maybe I should dump my IT job. It sure as hell doesn't pay $83/hr.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required