Valve cover removal help :/

[thedatazoo]

Hi everyone ,
I have no money and my local mechanic who did the water pump and timing belt kit with all seals has alerted me that my valve cover gasket seal is stuffed and he has sealed it with gasket putty blue stuff :P(my great mechanical language). I was wondering if its hard to remove the valve cover and replace the seal. If so how would i do it :P?
Thanks guys
Anthony

[pedroalcala]

If it's an f22 it's only 4 10mm nuts you gotta take off. The valve cover gasket cost like 10 bucks at autozone new

[TheNextAZN]

yeh it's just a few bolts.. but u still gotta be carfull .. if that putty is causing acting like some adhesion, ur first thought might be to grab a flat head and pry it off.. That is where u need to be careful. u can possibly scrach the edge of ur valve cover or engine and ur future valve cover seal might not seal. Try to wiggle it off first.. maybe if possible slide a razor blade (carefully) in trying to cut the seal.

[thedatazoo]

Any guide on how to replace the seal and also... how would i go about painting it then putting it back on(how do i clean the paint stripper off or if i get it sandblasted what to use)?

[grave]

What type of engine?

[thedatazoo]

What type of engine?

Its a f22a9 :/

[AbsurdNY]

All you have to do is put the new gasket in. It's pretty self explanatory. I normally put a little bit of silicone by the corners also. The gasket will also come with round seals for the spark plug holes. Just take the old ones out and put the new ones in.

BTW whenever I take my valve cover off I also do a valve lash adjustment but seeing you are asking how to replace the gasket, you must likely will not wanna do this yourself.

Here is more info
http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthre...lug+tube+seals

[Raf99]

Ya, a rubber hammer helps. You don't want to pry the VC off with some metal object but instead give it some wiggles. I'd try using your hands to get it off first.

The stuff your mechanic used will do the trick for now btw. If no oil is leaking out your good. But obviously it sounds like you need to replace it.

Oh, and don't drop any shit down in the engine with the cover off.
Best of luck.

[13k]

It's a bit more, but an OEM gasket will do the job that much better. The non OEM gasket will be very difficult to put in. It's a little bit too big. The difference between the two is night and day.

Do you know what the spark plug boots are? They're the 4 wires that go over the top of your engine. Pull each one out of the engine (with your hands). They should be dry. If you see any oil (be sure to check inside the tubes too) come back and let us know.

[Leung]

Also before you go yanking out all the spark plug wires , make a note of which hole they go into otherwise you could screw something up.

[13k]

Or you could take them out one at a time. That's what I do.

[AbsurdNY]

Or you could take them out one at a time. That's what I do.

Explain how you take them out one at a time when taking your valve cover off?

[13k]

Explain how you take them out one at a time when taking your valve cover off?

But ideally you'd want to know if you need to do the lower seals before you get started.

[Flyingsheep]

Look, it's not a big deal with the spark plug wires. They are all specific lengths and you can tell which goes where by shortest to longest.

[13k]

Unless you remove them from the distributor. But otherwise, yes, it's fairly easy not to get them mixed up.