valve cover gasket replacement

[bates]

ok i msure this has come up, but i havent had any luck searching for it. i need to do my driver side cause its leaking , and has been for a while but its really stary to be a PITA. is it complicated? it didnt seem too hard just looking at it. i think a mechanic would charge me out the @$$ so any input ewould be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[VairKing]

Bates, I just did mine today, and it took me aprox 6-7 hours straight, and I consider myself a pretty good mechanic. To sum it all up, just about everything you see when you open your hood needs to come off. I will try to tell you exactly how to do all this, but it has been a long day, so i might miss something. I also chose to put new spark plugs and wires in while doing this because it is the perfect time to do it.

To start, I took off the hood, because it made getting to the rear of the motor a lot easier. You dont have to do this but it made things go better. Then disconect the battery. Start by taking off your intake tube at the air box and at the upper intake manifold. Then drain your ratiator, and remove the 2 water hoses, one big one that goes from the ratiator to the block and another one that goes to the heater core.
remove the spark plug wires from the coil pack,and unbolt coil pack. The lower bolt is a ***** and will probably be rusted to the manifold. I couldnt come up with a good way to get it off, short of a wrench and a couple banged up knuckels.
Take the belt off, and remove the alternator.
Now you should have clearence to the left hand side valve cover. Use a deep well 10 milimeter to undo all 8 bolts, and manuver the cover out of there.
You will need to remove all the gasket from both surfaces, and use a thin layer of gasket sealer to hold the gasket to the block, then put the valve cover back on.
Now the fun side.
remove all the vaccum hoses and wire connections from the upper intake manifold.
take off the throttle cables, and move them to the far right hand side, out of the way.
unbolt the 6 upper intake bolts, 13 milimeter, and pop it loose, and move it out of the engine compartment.
unbolt the a/c compressor and set on left hand side of engine compartment.
okay, now i think you should be able to get to all the bolts. do the same as the other side, and put the new gaskets on. Then put everything back together again, and poof! no more burning oil smell! good luck, PM me if you need any more help, like I said, i'm dog tired after about 12 hours of working on the truck, so I may have left out a couple things. Good luck dude!

 

[irtySanchez]

Very accurate description VairKing! I have only one thing to add to your post:

Since you have gone this far to do this job and you already have the upper manifold off, do yourself a favor and replace the lower manifold gaskets as well!

I had a leaking valva cover a few months back. I knew it needed to be replaced. I also had a nasty case of the dreaded ping. so I went ahead and did the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets and the valve covers. The end result was: no more leaking, no more pinging, completely cleaned upper and lower intake, and a gain in power and fuel mileage.

Hope these suggestions may help!

 

[bates]

sounds like a lotta work. i better go get some parts soon then before it gets too cold for me to do it!

 

[SteveVB]

Use the Ford gaskets.

FPN has them for good prices-banner at top of site.

 

[bates]

ok, is there anythin else i should do while im doin this. i think im gonna do it this weekend, ill try and take lots of pics, and do a writeup or something for others. pic request welcome while im doin it.

so far the list is:

rad fluid change
valve cover gaskets
platinum plugs
plug wires
intake gaskets(upper and lower)
sandblast and paint valve covers
rad hoses

 

[VairKing]

Make sure you have a good metric socket set, 10 mil and 13 mil are most commen, you will need deep well sockets, and lots of extensions. I have a lot of air tools which speeded things up a bit...I used a couple cans of caurburator cleaner and got all the brown sticky oily crap out of my upper intake manifold, I just sprayed a lot in there and got most of it out...thats all i can think of now...

 

[bates]

i got that stuff already i was born into a family with lots of tools

 

[VairKing]

Well then good luck...It isnt very hard, just time cosuming. and you may want to get some pen oil soaking on that lower coil pack bolt, it will be a *****.

 

[bates]

alright ill do that tomorrow morning

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Bates:

You will need a good selection of 1/4" & 3/8" metric and sae sockets and wrenches. Also both in/lb & ft/lb torque wrenches.
Clean out the inside of the upper intake with parts cleaner while you have it off. If you are removing the lower intake, will need to seperate the fuel lines. Blow the dirt out around the garter springs before you insert the tool. The crud built-up in there hinders proper insertion of the disconnect tool.
I changed my intake and valve cover gaskets back in May of this year. Sure fixes the oil leaks and the spark knock from # 5 cylinder.
Cleaning up and painting the valve covers is a very good idea. They are prone to rusting out in our climate and cost about 150 cdn each from the dealer.

Good luck with your project.

 

[bates]

hmmmm crappy, dont have any torque wrenches that one slipped through my mind. how much are we talking for these what which ones can i get by with for this project? will the 3/8 lb/ft one do the job? how much for that?

 

[bates]

o and please elaborate on the fuel line thing, it was left of the original

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Ctc has the torque wrenches on sale, I think. If you're going to do the job right the first time, might as well pick them up. You will get lots of use out of them.
The disconnect tools that I have came from Princess Auto. Ctc doesn't have the proper ones, but I imagine that UAP, CarQuest, etc would have them.
Were are you located?
If I can be of any other help, email me at wcpm@sympatico.ca

Bill M

 

[bates]

ok dokie, im in amherstview, which is just outside kingston