Cracked valve cover [Merged 4-8] crack

[goose_]

There seem's to be oil leaking to the top of the valve cover. I cant find any cracks, is it possible that there is a hair-line crack somewhere one the valve cover? Will replacing the valve cover fix this? Or is this a bigger problem?

I'm in need of information ASAP.

 

[Bob Kratchet]

More than likely you have an oil cap that has a hardened gasket... buy a new oil cap and I bet the oil goes away...

 

[mrmadmax]

I had a tiny hairline crack around the far right V-cover bolt when I bought my car. I think some idiot tried to pull the cover and missed a bolt or something. Anyway, be sure you find a crack before you get a new cover. They're spendy...

Does anyone know what a good price for used covers is? The wrecker our shop deals with gave me a "deal" at $145. I think I got hosed...

 

[goose_]

Originally posted by mrmadmax
I had a tiny hairline crack around the far right V-cover bolt when I bought my car. I think some idiot tried to pull the cover and missed a bolt or something. Anyway, be sure you find a crack before you get a new cover. They're spendy...

Does anyone know what a good price for used covers is? The wrecker our shop deals with gave me a "deal" at $145. I think I got hosed...

45 dollars from www.mitsubishigraveyard.com

 

[jbillakdsm]

I had the same problem when I bought my new car. I replaced the valve cover gasket and I still got oil up there, I checked the cover and no cracks there. Check your oil cap gasket, mine was as hard as a rock when I checked it. A shiny oil cap from Stant was like 6.99. I also ordered a new gasket from Mach V for 2 bucks. As soon as I replaced this, the oil disappeared.

This is definately somethign to not let go, my buddy's leaked for a while and it made its way down into his plug holes and destroyed a set of wires and plugs. Replace the oil cap and see what you get. If you find a small crack somewhere, clean the entire valve cover (I used Fusol from Fuller Brush and it did an amazing job), take some red RVT on a Q-tip and apply it over the crack (on the outside of the cover) and let it dry for a little bit. My dad cracked mine when he was putting in one of the last bolts (goddamnit!) and that's what we did and I have had no leaks yet.

 

[Airpoppoff]

Hey guys i was just wondering if theres a way to fix my valve covor, ill get you guys some pics but anyways, its one of the bolts right below spark plug wire NUM #2 cyl. (saying cyl 4 is the one cllosest to the timing belt), its the smaller bolt inside the spark plug wire cover. well i tightend the bolt too much and it popped and cracked it,, you can see oil it trying to come out of it but it cant, do you think that jb weld would work, i spent hella time preppin it and painting it and i dont wanna get a new one. any ideas guys???

 

[turboholic]

-JB Weld.

 

[Dsmed]

jb weld will work but it'll look like a$$. buy a new one and be careful tightening it.

 

[cubanarigga]

you are going to have to buy a new one...in my opinion jb weld dosen't work like it should, plus it wont look appealing...

 

[billdo_83]

Dont even waste your time w/ JB Weld.
The guy that had the car before me did that. Huge oil leak on my car thought there was a blown gasket someplace. I replaced the cover and while i was at it painted it and made it all pretty. Just Save yourself the trouble and buy a new one. DONT OVER Tighten teh bolts hwen putting it on though.
i got my VC for 48 shipped.

 

[Airpoppoff]

do you think i could press th crack out and put jb weld on the inside????,i dont know just an idea. so it wouldent look so ugly ya know well anyways thanks guys

 

[turboholic]

-I'm a very poor person, so I use JB Weld to fix the cracks instead of buying a new valve cover, I put JB on the inside to cover up the crack, on the out side, I dremel away some of the aluminum, then use JB to fill up crack.

 

[LaserRST]

Just make sure the surface is nice and clean if Jb weld falls in the oiling sys than your just makin things worse. Ofcourse you knew that. Jb weld is good for small cracks. Too big needs a mig welder.

 

[turboholic]

-If you want something stronger than JB, Devcon make an commercial grade (2 part)epoxy call 'liquid aluminum', I use it to "bed" my rifles, it work great.

 

[turbofanatic]

ok, i had thought that my head gasket had blown, but i found a crack in my valve cover. so i was wondering if this could have hurt anything else? and if i tried to compression check it, would i get accurate readings with the valve cover cracked? just wondering cause i was trying to check my compression and i tought that i wouldn't get accurate readings with it cracked? what could've caused this? and what should i look for, to see if something else is wrong, when replacing the valve cover. and is there anything i should replace when i'm in there? thanks for your time

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

I don't know about teh compression test but I can say having a cracked valve cover can leak oil out. I had a crack in my VC and it filled plug well #1 with oil.

When you replace the VC. You want to replace

VC gasket
Spark plug gaskets
The half-moon thingy

I think mitsu makes a gasket set but I can't remember what it's called.

 

[97GSTURBO]

The half-moon thingy

That would be a cam end seal.

 

[CarpeDSM]

When my valve cover was cracked it leaked oil onto my timing belt somehow and caused it to fail prematurely.

Check out the timing belt to make sure it's OK

 

[markmakeitso]

A cracked valve cover shouldn't change compression readings, about the most serious problem possible is allowing oil to leak all over the place, like CarpeDSM said. You might be able to just JB Weld the cover, it's not a really precisely toleranced piece.

Mitsu probably has a complete seal kit, otherwise I know Napa sells the kit (all 6 pieces) for around $35.

 

[me612]

mine is has a small crack, and it's been JB Welded for about 10 months now, i know im cheap, but hey, its holding so f()ck it

 

[fast_talon]

It shouldnt do any damage to your engine except lose oil. I would make sure you check your oil often till you can replace the valve cover. I over torqued one of my valve cover bolts causing my valve cover to crack. I didnt even notice the crack, until I got to the dyno and saw oil all over the place. I re-filled the oil, and ran multiple runs on the dyno. Later I noticed spark plug 1 and 4 was under 1" of oil. Car still ran fine actually.

I would get a used/new valve cover and a valve cover gasket kit from the mitsu dealer.

 

[turbofanatic]

ok thanks for all of your imput guys. i was thinking of having it tig welded, someone i know will do it for free. i just didn't think it would hold. so carpedsm you have yours welded? and have not had any problems?

and does anyone know why this happened? i remember that like two of the bolts on the vc where completely striped out. could this have caused it? cause the crack starts right beside of one of the bolts that was striped on the front of the engine. the crack goes from on the front lip where the vc and head meat all the way on to the top of the vc and over to the passenger side. but it does not go near the spark plugs.

 

[CarpeDSM]

No it's not welded, got a used one from my mechanic because I couldn't find one in ANY classifieds that day. I searched EVERYWHERE to find one and of course since I needed it I couldn't find one.

 

[turbofanatic]

sorry carpedsm, i thought that it was you that had the cracked vc and it was me612.

all i went to compression check my engine and when i started it up i thought that i heard it knocking. it's kinda hard to tell cause of how loud the exhuast is. but i was wondering if cracking the vc could have caused any engine damage? cause it wasn't making the noise before. and i also didn't drive the car for maybe 2 or 3 min after the vc cracked.

 

[fast_talon]

Turbofanatic: Over torquing the valve cover bolts will crack the valve cover. You will need to replace the valve cover (just goto the junkyard), replace the valve cover seals. I would suggest using a helicoil to replace the stripped threads on your head.