Ok, my friend changed my cam plug/rubber plug and replace my valve cover gasket and applied hondabond liberally between the cover where the distributor and cam seal is. Problem is, my car is spewing oil all over the distributor, intake, and a puddle keeps appearing on the intake manifold. I'm assuming that he didn't torq it down back to specs.

My question is, is there anyone in the upstate NY (Binghamton) area with a torq wrench that is willing to help a fellow tegger out? Or at least lend me a torq wrench? He walked me through it and I know what to do, but I'd prefer if someone could help me out. Thanks a lot.

 

tq isn't so much the problem, before you do anything, remove all the gaskets/grommets and wipe everything out/off thouroughly. as in take the gasket out of the valve cover, wipe inside the slot of the valve cover, take out the spark plug grommets and do the same, and wipe off the gaskets well, then reapply, i haven't ever used gasket sealer (a.k.a hondabond) and mine never leaks. just make sure the seal is nice and dry, and the nuts are tight.

 

did u reseal it by hand? or is it a must to use a torq wrench

 

i don't even use a tq wrench, just tighten em up good, but not extremely tight

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ljoe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i don't even use a tq wrench, just tighten em up good, but not extremely tight</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes after all, it's ONLY aluminum. The tq spec is only 7 or 8 lbs, anyway.
And use hondabond sparingly on gaskets, not liberally.

 

uhh... what exactly is 'not too tight' for a 140pd male? haha

 

Seeing as how you don't have a good feel for what approx 7-10lb ft is I would say use a torque wrench until you get familiar. I've seen way too many people snap those weak studs tightening thier valve cover nuts. It doesn't have to be very tight at all. Make sure when the new gasket was put on it was put on correctly and isn't pinching somewhere. If it's not seated right it will leak for sure. Also check your O-ring on your distributor, could be leaking some oil out of there too.

 

Use a 1/4" ratchet when tightening those nuts, and just snug them down. Hold the ratchet closer to the head, not at the end (which applies more torque). This is what I do and I've never broken a valve cover stud in over 3 years of owning my car now.

 

I just tried reseating and resealing it, but it's still leaking a bit. with just a ratchet, how much of a turn or how many turns do you do after hand tightening it?

 

ive only ever used really small dabs of the bond and just in the corners and never had any problems....if you use too much, it'll sqeeze itself out or the gasket out cuz itll get all slippery.....are you sure youre not putting too much on?...i've only ever used a torque wrench, so cant help you out w/feeling it out, sorry..i'm not good at that.

 

Well, when my friend did it for me, he put globs of it. When I took it apart, I tried my best to remove as much of it as I could, then put everything back in place.

 

well sounds like the whole thing isn't sitting properly, whether due to excess hondabond or perhaps the gasket isnt placed right. If you try to clean off the gaskets and it still doesnt sit right... i'd suggest buyin a new set of valve cover gaskets and redoing it... i'm sure its nothing seriously wrong. Good luck.