Valve cover gasket 4.2

Never mind , just found other messages about same problem

Thanks anyway

Cork is your friend... first get EVERYTHING out of your way... that means all vaccum lines, heater hose (goes from the intake to the core) air cleaner housing etc. if anything is in the way it will cause you to jimmy with the cover trying to get it to fit... which is probably why there are so many 4.2's with leaking valve covers.

RTV both sides of the cork gasket... My theory is the cork helps insulate the aluminum cover from the hotter steel head. Aluminum expands and contracts at differing rates than steel which contributes to the problem. Also I'm in the "tighten it down a little and torque down the rest of the way after 24 hours" camp.

I cleaned and degreased it with brake cleaner but didn't get the brown stuff (oil residue ?) off

Any cleaner that will get that off ???

:-) Why is it that people (me) always try to get the least stuff out of the way to do a job Yeah, I did struggle a little getting it back in

I "ll give it a try

Thanks

I do them super clean with a cork gasket and RTV torqued properly in order, (center first then zig zag out to the ends for the perimeter ones) the first time and don't touch it for 24 hours.

I have a plastic cover and only the two top center rocker nuts holding mine on. No perimeter bolts on my '78's head. 5 years and counting with no leaks.

Mike

All I've ever seen for my 4.2 (258 ci) is a cork gasket.

I'd like to offer up the idea of bolting it down by starting at the back of the motor instead of the center and working to the ends. My reasoning is that your VC is probably warped, and if you put it on a table and pressed down on one end, the other end would rise off the table. Assuming this is true, if you start in the middle (as the directions state), by the time you get to the end -- the rear end to be precise -- you are pulling the bolts against the cover that is resisting being pulled down, and therefore it fails to seat well against the gasket.

The engine is raised a bit at the front, so all of the oil flows to the back (against the firewall) while draining to the bottom to be sucked up by the oil pump. If you start bolting the cover down at the rear, you will seal the part that is prone to leaking before you seal the other parts of the cover. Worst case is that the leak will move to the front of the motor, which is higher than the rest of the motor, and not likely to leak.

Jeff, if you have the plastic cover, your bolting method will snap it. If you have a bent metal one, that bolting method will split the cork gasket.

I have seen both.

Mike

That's a good point. My cover is the metal variety. Steel, not aluminum.

I just do them in stages to be safe. That long sucker is sneaky for the rim bolts. By the time you zig zag out from the center to the ends, the centers are loose again usually. When they all stay snug, I am happy.

Mike

Jeff Strickland wrote: