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About a month ago I took off my Cam covers to paint them. I put everything back together and the front cam cover is fine but the rear cam cover was leaking badly (new cam cover gaskets installed). When I pulled off the rear cam cover and examined the gasket it was streched out a good 1 1/2 inch and would not seat properly. The gasket did fit good apon original installation. I'm assuming that the streched gasket is the cause of the leak. I'm a bit confused as to why the gasket streched out like it did and before I install a new gasket and put everything back together, I would sure like to understand what went wrong! I definetly do NOT want to "redo" this again.
1. Would the fact that I did not apply the beads of silicon gasket sealent to the mating surface cause the gasket to strech as it did? If so, despite the fact that the front cam cover is not leaking should i remove it and apply the gasket sealant?
2. What causes a gasket to strech?
3. Anyone have the torque spec on the bolts for cam covers?
Thanks for the feedback!
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Joined: Jun 2001
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1 remove and discard leaking gasket and get a new one.
2 when installing new gasket make sure the mating surfaces of the engine block and the cam cover are clean and free of oil. Clean with a rag moistened with carb cleaner or similar solvent
3 witht he replacement gasket lightly abrade both sides of the rubber seal with a 300 - 400 grit sand paper and then clean with a rag moistened with same solvent used to clean engine. (seal is coated with mold release agent used during manufacture, selants will not bond to mold release agent, so we abrade it away with sand paper)
4 apply a small bead of silicone, preferably high temp/oil resistant. orange or red. a small bead completely sourrounding each hole. Be sure to leave a space between the bead and the inside edge of the cam cover, you don't want extruded selant getting into the engine and risk breaking free. (a small bead is about 1/4" wide and 1/8" tall. apply this bead to the engine block and to the cam cover.
6 gently lay the gasket on to the cam cover and press into place. If you want to make it easier to install, apply th eselant to the cam cover and then press in the gasket and let is sit overnight, then before you install the cam cover witht he glued in gasket apply a bead of selant to the engine and lay the cam cover in place and locate your screw holes.
7 torquing, check the owners manual. or pick up a Hanes or Chiltons manual, they should have the information you need. If you cna't find that, torque to 30-35 inch- pounds or 3 foot pounds. Allow the seal to sit at least 4-5 hours before adding oil or starting the engine, preferably 12 hours for a full cure.
if after torquing to 30-35 inch/pounds a leak still exists torque up to but not over 45 inch pounds. any higher and you risk stripping out the threads in the engine and thats not fun to fix.
hopefully that helps, have fun and take your time, it will always come out better when you dont rush
reguards - Jason
"careful man, there's a beverage here."
e-mail: boseraq@hotmail.com
aol IM: madhat1412
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Originally posted by JSmith:
3 witht he replacement gasket lightly abrade both sides of the rubber seal with a 300 - 400 grit sand paper and then clean with a rag moistened with same solvent used to clean engine. (seal is coated with mold release agent used during manufacture, selants will not bond to mold release agent, so we abrade it away with sand paper)
you want to sand until both sides of the seal are no longer shinny. Be careful not to pull on the gasket tooo hard or it may stretch. toquing the bolts with a torque wrnch is very important, not so much to be sure the bolts are tight, but more to ensure that they are all the same tightness, if one is looser than the others it will be more likely to leak.
"careful man, there's a beverage here."
e-mail: boseraq@hotmail.com
aol IM: madhat1412
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Originally posted by JSmith:
7 torquing, check the owners manual. or pick up a Hanes or Chiltons manual, they should have the information you need. If you cna't find that, torque to 30-35 inch- pounds or 3 foot pounds. Allow the seal to sit at least 4-5 hours before adding oil or starting the engine, preferably 12 hours for a full cure.
if after torquing to 30-35 inch/pounds a leak still exists torque up to but not over 45 inch pounds. if the owners manual or other technical manual (hanes/chiltons) recomends a torque higher than what I specified, by all means go with what is written in the book even if it is higher than what I said.
"careful man, there's a beverage here."
e-mail: boseraq@hotmail.com
aol IM: madhat1412
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Thanks for you responce guys. Only questions I have now is...
1. Do you reccomend that I remove the front cam cover and sand that gasket and apply silicon gasket sealent? The front one shows no sign of leaks "but", I did not sand gasket or apply silicon gasket sealent.
1a. If you do reccomend sanding/sealant will I have to use a new gasket? Currently 100 miles on gasket.
2. What do you think caused the rear cam cover gasket to strech out as it did?
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if the front gasket is not leaking leave it alone.
a possible reason behind the rear gasket stretchig may be as a result of an overtorque.
"careful man, there's a beverage here."
e-mail: boseraq@hotmail.com
aol IM: madhat1412
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