420A Valve cover gasket?

[jmeadz]

I have a 97 eclipse 420a...Ive had the car for a year now, and finally thought I should change the valve cover gasket since it looked hardened on there and smoke was coming from the engine bay area leaking down to the exhaust causing a bad smell..so I got it off and and replaced the gasket and the spark plug gasket as it came with it....put it all back and drove about two miles and it's still doing it. I am not sure if something is still wrong? of if its just excess oil burning off or what? anyone have any ideas!!

 

[CanadianTalonTC]

If you spilled oil on the engine or there are drops on it it will take a bit to come off. If there is fresh oil on there after driving again you will be able to tell as it will be a lot more shiny than the old dirt covered stuff.

Wait till you use penetrating lube on the exhaust. It's a bit of a smoke show for the first drive.

Joel

 

[ryztriumph]

Can you visually see where the oil is coming out at? Are you sure its coming from your vcg? When I replaced mine on my 4g63 I used a small bead of grey rtv around the top of the gasket and valve cover and on the head around the cas and cams. You might try that and see if you still get leaks.

If you still have leaks, get some of that uv reactive die from auto zone and put in your oil and use a blacklight at night to look around your bay for leaks. It works great and shows up as a neon yellow under black light.

 

[jmeadz]

the previous gasket and spark plug gasket must of have some sort of glue or what not on it because around the gaskets was grey like putty....something must be wrong with the valve cover or something for them to do that, however I didnt I just used the gaskets

 

[Turbomelon211]

I used to work in an oil change shop when i was younger and we had many people come back after similar repairs with the same problem. Most of the time it was jusy residual oil from the previous leak. I would try and spray some degreaser and clean it up real good and if its still leaking from somewhere else you will be able to see it better

 

[dsmcrzy]

Did you properly torque the valve cover? Its does have a torque sequence.

http://www.2gnt.com/index.php?d=Replacing%20valve%20cover%20and%20spark%20plug%20gaskets

 

[jmeadz]

all the bolts are tight, like I said before I didnt use RTV when i put the new gaskets on...but now my car is leaking oil bad..I put cardboard down and it shows, I just honestly have no idea where it could be coming from and how its escaping so quickly

 

[dsmcrzy]

I didn't ask if they were tight.

I asked if you torqued them down in the right sequence. It does actually matter!

 

[TSicktalon]

Are you sure it is coming from the valve cover? There are other spots a motor can leak oil from...

 

[Turbomelon211]

Cam seals?

I come from a honda background (yeah i know) and this was common on Hondas so maybe??

 

[jmeadz]

I did not torque them down, no...just tightened..and which form of RTV should I use? there is quite a few, high heat? or oil resistant etc

 

[athlete3344]

I always dab some rtv around the corners of vcg and any area that previously had some.

Was your car leaking this much oil before you tinkered around with the vcg?

I would do the following:

Take off the valve cover and vcg.

Clean the surface really well, and scrape the stuff thats stuck on. The surface of the head and valve cover need to be extremely smooth for the gasket to function properly.

Put the vcg back on.

Dab corners with rtv, and anywhere you may consider weak spots of the gasket. Just get the high temp stuff.

Replace valve cover, and follow the instructions for the torque sequence. If you dont, the cover may have tight spots, causing a gap in other areas, allowing oil to leak out.


Do it right, and you wont have problems.

 

[901gtsi]

I did not torque them down, no...just tightened..and which form of RTV should I use? there is quite a few, high heat? or oil resistant etc

On valve cover's I like to use hondabond or permatex hi temp ultra grey.

 

[jmeadz]

that's exactly what I'm going to do this time! I took my car downtown to a lions game and it started smoking really bad...maybe because of express way driving..higher RPM's not sure! I was doing some research as well, if that doesn't fix it I wonder if it could be the rear main seal? I did however take my car to a shop to replace some belts and they said they had to replace the oil sending unit...ever since I got it back from them the car hasn't seemed to be running quite like it was before it was in the shop

 

[keston95GS-T]

Take out the cover, clean the two surfaces. Make sure both surfaces are smooth, then reapply with the assistance of RTV.

 

[grothe3297venge]

This should help guide you where to properly put the sealant on the head surface. Sorry this is from another site but its directly for the 420a valve cover replacement. - 2GNT.com - Replacing_valve_cover_and_spark_plug_gaskets

Also don't take too much advise from those with a 4g63 platform, probably different process then there is with a 420a platform.

 

[jmeadz]

This should help guide you where to properly put the sealant on the head surface. Sorry this is from another site but its directly for the 420a valve cover replacement. - 2GNT.com - Replacing_valve_cover_and_spark_plug_gaskets

Also don't take too much advise from those with a 4g63 platform, probably different process then there is with a 420a platform.

Thanks so much man!

 

[grothe3297venge]

No problem, hope this helps your oil leak issue!