Leaking valve cover gasket

I recently had a local shop install a pair of rebuilt heads on my 7.3 IDI. There is now a moderate but annoying leak from the passenger side valve cover despite the new gaskets. Covers look like they were cleaned, too.

The lower front bolt was considerably overtightened, the next one to the rear was adequately torqued and the remaining two were not very tight at all. I know with stamped steel covers, overtightening them in an attempt to stop a leak will actually make it worse by warping the cover.
Hopefully the mechanic's helper knows this but I am not sure

I'm planning to pull the cover, straighten it if necessary, and reinstall with a new Felpro gasket. Does anyone have a favorite technique or sealant to stop these pesky drips?

thanks
Charles

I put mine on with just gaskets, no goop of any kind. I put a lot of time in making sure there was nothing but smooth metal on the gasket surfaces, made sure the valve cover gasket surface and special triangle washers were dead flat, cleaned up all the threads, and tightened lightly lubricated bolts exactly to recommended torque. No leaks!

Overtightening will pinch the gasket and cause the leak, so sounds like you need new gaskets if they were overtightened. Spec is 7 ft lbs.

Why not take it back to the shop that did the work in the first place? Since it was recently done, I would think that they would try to help you.

I considered that, but if this is how they do the work in the first place, they are not likely to accept education from a customer and do it right! And it's time consuming to book another appointment, probably have to leave the truck, get a ride home, get a ride back, hope they did it right this time, etc.

Of course it depends on the particular circumstances. When they didn't install new injector return O-rings while the injectors were out, even though I specifically requested them in advance, and of course several leaked, I did go back with a bag full of Viton o-rings from McMaster. They didn't charge me for the come-back, and now they don't leak!

I am just so tired of having to train mechanics on MY dime. After nearly 40 years of turning my own wrenches, that's another reason I do most of my own repairs.

Perfectly understandable!

Here in Los Angeles, I can't trust anyone to wrench on my IDI and TDI. they have no clue on these older diesels.

Just did felpro valve cover gaskets and they where terribly shaped. Bolts had to be inserted with valve covers off the bench and even then I was not to happy with gasket being where they should. They may not be reusable but the cork gaskets seem to fit a lot nicer.

A little bit of spray trim adhesive works well to hold the gasket in place.

centennial60 said:

A little bit of spray trim adhesive works well to hold the gasket in place.

Click to expand...

And defeats the purpose of a gaskets ability to absorb oil and expand to form a seal against the gasket surface.

no leaks yet