Did I just get lucky perhaps?
 

Noticed at last oil change some "moistness" around the lower rear of the passenger side valve cover. Figured it's a near 20 year old truck, meh, and went on.

Lately I'd pull in the garage and smell that distinct smell of a bit of burned oil, checked under the hood and see a couple drips in the same area on the exhaust manifold. Check the oil, no loss that's detectable, so a very small leak.

Looked in to valve cover gaskets figuring it might be my turn, but first thought I'd just check the valve cover bolts for proper torque, at least the ones I can reach.

All were at least a full turn loose, and the passenger side rear was 3 turns loose. Torqued to 53 INCH lbs per spec.

So far so good, no more leak. It's been a few days and a few hundred miles.

Wonder how many folks may be replacing valve cover gaskets when they could just tighten the bolts?

We'll see if this continues to be my fix.

Only works for so long. Eventually you're going to have squished all the gasket material out and will be compressing metal on metal. My previous owner believed heavily in this "trick."

Nope, not lucky. Better start collecting parts to do the vc gasket.
Some just keep tightening the vc bolts down and snap them off into the head.

My old owner cracked the driver side cover down until they cracked it. I didn't notice it when buying and thought it was a good thing they replaced the gaskets recently. I'm not sure if the mechanic cracked it when replaced or if they kept tightening the bolts before replacing the gaskets. Either way, my main point is that you can crack them if you go beyond a certain tightness. Valve covers are surprisingly not cheap for these things. I paid $100+ for a used one on ebay to replace mine... The oil leaks also took out 2 alternators before I ended up replacing the cover. Even at that, it did not really make a difference on the dipstick. On the positive side, it's free rust protection.

Go around the valve cover a bunch of times with the torque wrench. If you only go around once or twice, your torque will be short or the bolts you did first. You want even, but not excessive force all the way around.

-Charlie

Don't add too much torque on those bolts, if you do, it can crack the ears.

I used a proper torque wrench with proper torque spec on mine as mentioned in the 1st post. Would be hard to break something like that I hope.

I'm shocked that you're learning about this now - the loose vc bolts. Seems like common knowledge around here.

Well, I for one appreciate OP posting it. I've been visiting this site fairly frequently for quite awhile now and I don't recall seeing it anytime recently.

Yes we all expectantly hoped this would hold the gasket replacement at bay but the bolts inaccessible below the manifold just keep weeping.
The eager beavers have been known to crack valve covers too.

Don't just torque them. Buy the bolt gaskets from the dealer and replace them. They are cheap. The bolt will just back out again because those gaskets are so dried. I think that being rubber their purpose is to take up the expansion and contraction of the valve cover.

I agree, they're designed to maintain pressure. If I replace those little gaskets I'll do the valve cover gaskets too. Just trying to put it off like the timing belt I was supposed to do 60,000 miles ago LOL. I keep waiting for the water pump to leak so I'll have a reason to get in there.

I'm curious how long this quick fix will last. I remembered it from years ago when I had a Toyota PU 4x4 with the 22RE and did the same thing. I never did have to replace the VC gasket on that truck after many years and eventually sold it.

LOL, yeah if it's all over the internet I never saw it either. Plenty of talk about replacing gaskets though :rolleyes:

Bolts inaccessible below the manifold???? I think you're missing something? This is the valve cover.

The intake manifold straddles both valve covers meaning the 8 or so inner bolts cannot be accessed with out it's removal. Over tightening the visible outers only can stress crack the covers.
Replacing Valve Cover Gaskets - A True Write Up - **PICTURES**

For us naturally aspirated peasants, the intake manifold makes it difficult to access some of the driver side valve cover bolts