Leaking valve cover gasket

[Jimmy9190]

Changed my oil today and noticed a dirty oily residue on the lower edge of the right valve cover. The residue does not cover the entire edge of the cover, just from about the middle of the cover to the back corner. I'm thinking it's a valve cover gasket leak but the engine leaks no oil, uses no oil to speak of and I don't smell hot oil burning off like it would when it contacts the engine or exhaust manifold.

Anyone else here seen slight valve cover leaks like that? The left cover is dry and clean. This is on a Dodge Dakota with a 3.9 liter V6, 89,000 miles.

As always, I surely appreciate any help.

 

[bdcardinal]

if it were my car i would clean it off with a rag with some brake cleaner on it. then watch and see if the residue returns.

 

[oilyriser]

think of it as automatic rustproofing

 

[Jimmy9190]

I read on a couple of Dodge forums how the valve cover bolts can loosen over time and cause a leak. Tomorrow I will take bdcardinal's advice and clean the cover very well, then retorque the bolts and watch it. These engines came with a reusable metal backed rubber gasket and they don't blow out often. I did have a bad pcv a while back which could have caused the gasket to leak but the pcv is on the opposite side. I'll replace the gasket if the leak/residue comes back.

Thanks for the help here.

 

[parimento1]

Be careful torquing the bolts, I dont know if it uses an alum head or not, but the bolts on some cars are designed to break if torqued even a little bit too hard and are a PITA to get out if they do happen to snap

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: oily boyd
I'm not so sure they're designed to break but...

they are designed to stretch. In fact, when installing the head(s), you are supposed to torque to a certain setting (90 lbs-ft or whatever) and from there you torque them to a certain angle.

Torquing them 270 degrees (or whatever) stretches the bolt the proper amount. There are torque wrenches with angle readings for this procedure.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NEVER REUSE STRETCH(ED) BOLTS!


Pssssssst, we are talking about valve cover bolts, not head bolts

And yes, I don't think they are designed to break either. They just typically don't take much torque.

 

[oily boyd]

Thanks...

I just deleted my post... been a long day!

Cheers!

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks. Head is cast iron and torque is very light, 95 inch-pounds for the valve cover bolts. I am planning on cleaning the flange on the cover and just backing the bolts out a little and re-torqueing, then wait to to see if it still has any evidence of a leak before I replace the gasket. It rained pretty bad here today so I didn't get a chance to do it yet.

Thanks for the help.

 

[PT1]

Take the bolts out and try some blue loctite on them. Clean the threads first.

 

[mechtech2]

Valve cover leaks are VERY common. From a little to a lot.