I have replaced my rocker arm seals about 7 months ago. Now they are leaking on the boots. Is this happening because they were installed wrong or are they just bad seals or is the oil leaking coming from a warped valve cover?

 

ok are you talking about the rocker arm o rings under the rocker arm assy or the spark plug tube seals on the valve cover ?

 

What a lot of people neglect to tell you is that there are actually two sets of spark plug well (tube) seals.
The most commonly replaced upper seals (seal between the valve cover gaskets and the TOP of the spark plug tubes) AND
The lower tube seals.
These seal between the cylinder head and the camshaft support assembly which makes up the tube assembly itself. Refer #19



They probably only replaced the "uppers"
I hope this clears it up

P

 

Yes they are the rocker arm spark plug tube seals, that come with the valve cover gasket kit. They said it all comes in 1 kit. The spark plug o ring seals where the boot tube goes into and the valve cover gasket. Now, they didn't mention 2 sets (upper and lower) of 4 o ring seals for the spark plug boots. However, when i pull out the boots they are dripping with oil. So, isn't the kit supposed to come with all of the seals?

 

Well, morally yes but technically no.
By it's very name the kits' intension is to provide for removing and resealing the valve cover, for which the lower sels aren't required.

That being said, any tech that's worked on these would be remiss if he didn't recommend the whole ball 'o wax when confronted with oil in the spark plug tubes.

P

 

I just talked to him and he said he replaced both upper and lowers. The uppers being the ones that sit inside the valve cover and the lowers being the ones that are by the spark plug tubes. Now he saying that he will replace them again for free however, I would have to pay for the parts which the kit itself is 75 bucks with tax.... and the labor would be free. I don't want the seals to go bad again. He's telling me seals go bad sometimes because they are rubber and what not. Altogether when he first did the job ge charged me 115 for labor and 75 for the parts. the dealer was gonna charge me around 300.

 

I'm curious, how much did he charge you on the first go-around?

P

 

the first go around it was $69.95 for parts. labor was $115 plus $2.50 for hazardous waste.
total: $190.

 

Well, it would appear that he charged for both......

 

do you think that the seals will go bad again. or it is that he installed them wrong the first time. or, do i have warped gasket holes that won't let the seals lay properly. basically, who do i blame for doing this all over again? hahahhaah

 

I don't subscribe to conspiracy theorys, but I've several thoughts on what happened.
By the way, the o'ring seats don't warp (they're machined aluminum).
Let him make good on the repair.
Obviously something was amiss

 

alrighty hahahhaha. thanks p adams!
well hopefully this time around paying 75 bucks for another set of seals should do the trick.