Valve cover leak

[9COOP5]

Ford said today during my oil change and tire rotation, that I have a valve cover leak. Is this a major deal, is there a lot that goes into the repair and cost?

 

[Royy]

Hard to say without more information. It depends on what exactly is causing the leak. If the valve cover is cracked for example, that would probably be fairly costly since that's a part that's hard to find.

It could also simply be a bad gasket. A set of valve cover gaskets costs $20-30, and they are pretty easy to replace by yourself.

Either way, I'd definitely fix it sooner rather than later. Oil leaks inside the engine compartment are pretty serious.

 

[9COOP5]

They said it was a gasket needed replaced and the truck has 155k.

 

[Royy]

That's positive, could have been a lot worse.

I'd advise you to look up some videos of valve cover gasket replacements on YouTube, there are a lot of them that will show you exactly what to do. If you then decide it's something you feel comfortable doing yourself, you can get the gaskets at any auto parts store.

If you'd rather not do it yourself, most mechanics will probably charge a couple hundred bucks for it.

 

[Cashcrazy]

My 2003 has 58k and was leaking from both covers. The age took its toll on them. The gaskets were about $13 on rockauto, but I removed the intake to get the valve covers off.