I decided to fix that pesky oil leak on the small covers on the valve covers today. I figured I might as well do pics to show the DIY'ers. The biggest part of this is just cleaning off all the old gasket. It is a RTV type and sticks in all the crevices and hard to get at spots. I used a couple of plastic scrapers to get most of it off and a wire wheel to get in and get the little bits.

Valve covers with the covers removed and clean. Paper towels stuffed in the holes to keep crud out of the engine.





Here are the covers removed and the black RTV gasket material I will use.



This is the covers scraped, wire brushed and soaking in degreaser. I am cleaning them very good so the gasket will stick good. I used alcohol to clean the matching side on the valve covers.



Covers all clean and drying.



I will post the finishing pics when they are dry and I re-install. Have fun.

 

I am not too sure I'd use a wire brush on it, even a brass one, a bit too harsh for my liking.

 

I need to get around to doing this as well. My drivers side has been leaking for a while. Let me know if yours stopped leaking once you give it a good work out.

 

Here are the pics of the covers with the new RTV gasket goo in place.





And here they are all installed and buttoned up.





I will give it about 24 hours to cure good before I fire it up. Sometime next week I'll know if I did it good enough.
NOTE: Permatex RTV gasket says, 'dries in 1 hour, fully cured in 24 hours'.

 

mine just now started to seep...just after the hard drive to the dragon...guess I will add to my list which is growing and growing...kids Gran Am is killing me...looks like a low voltage problem, which I haven't found, or maybe a similar ecu...rcm type problem...still digging...

 

Maybe our engines need more ventilation. I've got the same slow leak also.. Squirrel Crusher

 

Wow I didnt know you can buy a "liquid gasket" do they sell the original rubber seal @ chrysler? this looks very good Mike hope it works cause' I'll definatly go down the same path!!

Great DIY instructions by the way!!!

 

For these covers, there was never a rubber seal as is my understanding. It was always RTV (liquid gasket).


Mike,

How long do you HAVE to let these things cure before you can fire it up? I don't know if I have 24hrs to sit in my house... seeing as my 6 is my DD. Just curious, because I need to get this done this weekend. The seepage is starting to make my pretty engine look dirty.

 

Allow the sealant to cure overnight at least, 12 hours is good, read the instructions for specific cure times.
An example is attached.
http://www.devcon.com/prodfiles/pdfs/fam_tds_376.pdf

 

^^+1..... I dont NEED to drive mine, so I am just letting it sit a little extra. It is also colder now, so I just added some time. I will have it out this afternoon to run an errand.

edit: I just double checked the direstions for the Permatex RTV gasket that I used. It says "dries in 1 hour, fully cured in 24 hours".

 

Saw the initial sign of this pesky oil leak on my 07 Coupe this past weekend. Wiped everything down real good using a rag with engine cleaner. Will wait for a nice weekend to fix this once & for all.

 

This might sound weird but it looks like i'm missing a hose. The driver side valve cover hose closet to the driver is missing and the only hose i see that is disconnected is coming out of the fire wall any body know where this hose is suppose to connect to? Or if you can post a pick of where the hose leads. thank you

 

I did mine a year ago without incident. The job takes time but is not a biggy to clean it well.

It is not black RTV, thats for window leaks, its ULTRA BLACK RTV as some may make the error. Whood thunk that there two blacks??? Welll there are severa BLUE RTV's also, check the label to get what you need in the RTV market.. Believe there more than one red rtv also??? not sure.

The valve covers have a hose from each side going under the intake to the throttle body , sort of a crud sucker and just as nasty. This is why I worked on the super separator for the oil breather on the crossfire, to reduce back pressure and help eliminate the crap going into the supercharger. If yours is missing it may have fallen off but thats something to investigate, Enjoy.

Woody

 

My car started leaking now, thanks for posting the pictures, it makes it better for all of us that will attempt this. I only have one question, in the pictures they are on the washing machine, What cycle do you run them in? I'm thinking delicate with warm water, easy on the soap. LOL

 

I was told my covers are starting to leak....thanks for the post up.

 

Thought I'd use the Permatex Ultra Grey Gasket Maker product since it's intended for max vibration applications and has a stated 'guaranteed not to leak' disclaimer on the packaging. (Note: I also already have a tube of this in my toolbox.) But I also found this Right Stuff Grey Gasket Maker product. It must have an air-activiated accelerant because it states can be put into use within 1 minute - fully cured!

 

Finished up PS breather cover today. Used the Permatex Ultra Grey Gasket Maker product I referenced earlier. Everything seemed to work fine. Breather cover cleaned up really nice using Carb/Choke Cleaner. Always keep a spray can on-hand. Best parts cleaner ever.

And I did use a small brass bristle brush over the gasket mating surfaces on both the breather cover & valve cover. Pay particular attention to MikeR's pictures regarding the plugging of oil drain pathways on the valve cover. The small bits & pieces of old RTV gasket material will fall into just about every crevice it can find. I finally vacuumed out the valve cover to get all of these small pieces. (Note: I recommend using a clean paper towel to wipe up and remove any oil that pockets along the breather side of the valve cover once you remove the breather cover. Just makes it easier to vacuum & collect old gasket material later on during this repair.)

During re-assembly of breather cover I checked for valve cover bolt torque setting and found 10 N-m (7-8 Ft-lbs) on the service manual disc I've got. After I tightened the 2 bolts that pass thru the breather cover, I checked the remaining valve cover bolts. Found all of them less than 10 N-m. Re-tightened these bolts also. Then I tightened the 2 small hex head machine screws in the breather cover to 5-6 N-m (slightly over snug).

I'll post again when I finish up the DS tomorrow.

 

Parts department at MB says the 5 smaller bolts holding the recycle covers in place are "one time use," should be replaced when covers are serviced. They snap of easily. Sensor safe RTV should be used otherwise you may ruin an oxygen sensor or two, it happened to my '06 when the dealer resealed these covers, check engine light came on less than 50 miles from the dealer. They replaced 2 sensors under warranty. A couple months later when replacing air filters I noticed one of the small bolts was snapped off, the cracker jack mechanic had to know that it left the shop that way.

 

Found out the hard way earlier this morning while fixing the DS breather cover. Wrung the top off of one of the aluminum Torx socket head cap screws during final tightening. Lucky the material was aluminum. It was simple to extract the screw with an "easy-out". These really have to be only snug tight. I'd recommend nothing more than 1/8 turn after snug.

Anyway, went to local M-B dealer for replacement screws. Absolutely no help. Got the impression he didn't want to assist me once I said the screw came off a Crossfire with their 3.2L engine in it. Screw them!

Went to Chrysler dealer down the road a piece. Parts guy was helpful and found the screw I was looking for during his search. Printed me a copy of the attached. Unfortunately, didn't have these screws so I special ordered them out of Gainsville, GA warehouse. He told me I should have them within 3-4 days. $4 each. OUCH! $20 to replace all 5.

Since I didn't want the XFire to be out of service for a single M5-.80x16 cap screw, I went to Lowe's and looked in the metric fastener section in hardware. Low & behold I found M5-.80x16 regular SHCS's for $0.80 each. $4 to replace all 5 on the 3.2L! But if you do this, take extra precaution. The normal SHCS's are Grade 12.9 steel and the valve covers are cast aluminum alloy. So it's easy to strip out threads if you over-tighten. Let the Permatex Gasket Maker compound do the work.

I'll start up the XFire later today & look for any catastrophic leaks. Hopefully, I won't find any. Then it will be only necessary to inspect the valve covers after driving around town the next couple of weeks to make sure that the ongoing leak is eliminated. Gotta have this resolved before Dragon weekend.

Later,

 

Drove around some this past weekend. Inspections of the breather covers always passed with flying colors. No signs of any leaks.

Curious how long this will hold up. Factory installation (which wasn't that good to begin with) lasted 2-1/2 to 3 years.

Car should now be ready for DRAGON RUNS!!!!

Later,,