Hey there I have a constant valve cover leak on both sides of the motor ever since my rebuild. I am using the valve cover gaskets that came with the gasket set, I put a lot of RTV on them and they still wont stop leaking. The leak is pretty bad too if I idle the truck for a few minutes there will be several oil spots underneath the truck and the headers smoke somewhat too because of the oil on them. Is there a trick to sealing these things?. I did all the oil mods to the block and am running a HV melling oil pump. I know that there is a lot of oil on top of the heads, more then ever. Also, those pieces of tin on top of the motor where the rocker stand is, are they nessary? What is there purpose of them? Other then that my engine is leak free no oil leaks anywhere.


Thanks for the help


FERacing66

 

The pieces of tin are splash guards for oil control. Run 'em, they dont hurt anything.

As far as making the valve cover gaskets seal, first, what type of valve covers are you running? The stock stamped ones are difficult to get to seal right. Basically, after the first time you tighten them they warp and never seal right again. A set of aluminum valve covers is a good investment.

After that, get some "Permatex High-Tack Gasket Sealer". Thoroughly clean the valve cover with brake cleaner on the gasket surface, and clean the head & intake on the gasket surface. Coat the valve cover gasket surface with the gasket sealer. Then stick the valve cover gasket on the valve cover. Then coat the exposed valve cover gasket with the sealer. After that, install the valve cover. Torque the valve cover bolts to 7 ft-lbs, no more. 5 ft-lbs is probably entirely adequate with the sealer. Use locktite on the threads to prevent them from backing out.

Also, make sure the intake gasket doesn't stick up between the head and the intake. This makes a gap where oil can get out.

 

Yup, aluminum valve covers are worth the upgrade.

Did you make sure the steel ones were nice and straight before putting them back on?

The best thing I've used so far is cork gaskets and silicone.

Cork sucks for removing the valve cover though, but once they're on there they work great.

Jordan

 

Over the years my solution was to contact cement cork/rubber gaskets to metal covers (straighten bolt holes first) or aluminum covers then apply Hylomar HPF #25249 (Permatex) sealer to the other gasket surface. Also Permatex has a sealer called The Right Stuff # 591068 and apply to the other gasket surface. Both have kept the covers dry. Every couple thousand miles do a bolt torque check as the gasket crushes with age and heat. Install the drip trays, oil restrictors installed? Worn rockers and shafts?
Carl....=o&o>.......

 

I use the rubber FelPro VC gaskets exclusively. I use the Permatex Hylomar on the VC side of the gasket only to hold them in place while the VCs are installed. I use nothing between the gasket and the head surface. No oil leaks at all. You might want to put a dab of silicone where the intake manifold meets the heads as they usually don't match perfectly and you can get a small step transition between them.

 

Those pieces of tin direct oil from the rocker shaft away from the valves to make the valve seals not have to work so hard. Leave them alone. With steel valve covers the first step is to make sure the outer lip of the valve cover (the part the gasket goes on) is flat. If the cover bolts are over torqued it bends the cover, then even new gaskets won't seal. I use a small hammer and the anvil portion of my 6" bench vice. The worst bending occurs around the bolt holes. Then don't over torque the bolts, it will leak again.

 

I'e done aluminum valve covers, steel valve covers, edelbrock valve covers, Ford valve covers, custom valve covers. I've used RTV, no RTV, rubber Fel-Pro gaskets , cork Fel-Pro gaskets, I sacrificed a chicken and a virgin....

MINE STILL LEAK! It's an FE. FE's apparently came stock with an external lubrication system.

Love it, drive it, park in the grass :-)

 

gtex, one trick that works on steel heads is to slap them on the Bridgeport and take off .030"-.040" to get a flat surface vs round cast surface.
Carl....=o&o>....

 

Well..........sure am GLAD that I'm not the ONLY one.....

Got FOUR FE's and ALL four leak some, some more than others.

 

Ditto... I used the stamped steel ones that came stock on my '74 360 w/ high-temp RTV (Red or Orange, depending on manufacturer). Make sure they are straight, that the steel is not sunken in around the bolt holes, and they and the head/intake are perfectly clean - and I mean perfectly clean - use degreaser (and remember the intake gasket sticking out the top - cut it off with a razor blade, FLUSH).

Then, apply RTV to the valve cover and the head-side of the cork gasket - ALLOW TO SKIN OVER - this is the most important part to getting RTV to seal - that little rubbery skin that forms is quite important. If the intake gasket didn't get cut off flush, and is recessed, put a little RTV on the gap.

The skin on the RTV only takes a few minutes to form. Best way to do valve covers is to put studs in the holes and use nuts instead of bolts. Put the gasket on the valve cover (locking in the little tabs on the gasket into the valve cover, verify all bolt holes are aligned. Put on head, install nuts or bolts. Put RTV into the hole or on the stud, before putting them on.

DO NOT EVEN THINK of starting the motor before the RTV is fully cured - 24 hours at least. I put a dab of RTV on something at the same time I do the gaskets, so I can go back and check if the dab is cured.

Also, what I try to do with RTV is not tighten it right up away and push out all the RTV - I tighten them up until I see the RTV start to ooze out on all sides and stop - let it cure, then tighten to specs.

The valve covers that were on my 390 when I recently dismantled the truck stayed on for 15 years and never leaked - the intake manifold on the other hand ...

 

My 390 sealed up fine on the passenger side, but the drivers side leaked like crazy.
We replaced gaskets several times, used all sorts of silicone and such.
We had chrome valve covers bought from ebay for cheap.
I think that may have been part of the problem.
it did dent one of the bolt holes next to the firewall.
Simple fix... bang the dent out as best as possible, and run those lil triangle wedge hold downs on each bolt hole.
With those, the use of new gasket, clean surface on head/cover, and some good silicone type gasket maker worked fine.
And your right about most FE's leaking... they all tend to leak somewhere.
FE - Freaking Expensive

 

Sorry for the long thread. I think for most of you the oil leak is not the valve covers but the intake gasket. When I started my 428CJ for the first time I had oil literally running out of the back of the motor on both sides (directly on the headers, of course). I gave myself a good cussing for not sealing the valve covers better and pulled them off for a reseal. This time I used "The Right Stuff" along with the rubber Fel-Pro gaskets. When I restarted the motor I still had the streams of oil. Of course, now I'm pretty ****ed. So, I goop some "Right Stuff" on my fingers and smear it all over the back of the heads along the valve cover and intake seams. Sure enough, the leak slows down to an acceptable drip. I started to think that perhaps the valve covers were a little too long for the heads so the gaskets weren't really able to seal. For reference, I have Edelbrock heads and intake with the Ford Lemans cast valve covers.

As it turns out, the dumb *** who assembled my short block didn't install one of the oil gallery plugs properly so, long story short, after only about two hours run time I got to disassemble the whole motor for a trip to the machine shop. When I pulled the valve covers, I was able to see that they had been sealed VERY well and were well mated with their gaskets; my oil leak was not coming from there. However, when I pulled the intake, I discovered that, on both sides, there was oil under the thin strip of gasket that runs along the back of the head directly behind the oil return. I had used Perma-gasket when I installed the intake gasket but the hot oil had no problem working it loose. Apparently the intake bolts are not able to bring the intake down with enough pressure to keep this area sealed. This may be particularly true of the Edelbrock intakes that a lot of us are running.

I'm planning on using "Right Stuff" when I reinstall the intake but, as there is only a thin strip of head available for sealing, I'm not overly confident that I'll be successful. You have to be a little careful with the sealant in this area because it would be very easy to have sealant end up in the oil return port - that would definitely be a bummer.

 

i have never had the problem of them not sealing i use rtv and cork gaskets i just pulled some nice straight ones of a truck in the junk yard i think i am going to use because they are dent free

 

If you cut any material off the heads, you are suppose to cut the intake surfaces also so everything still matches. I don't have the amounts to cut easily at hand, but I can get them. And guess what they leak like crazy at the corners if you do a major shave jobs on your heads. Usually RTV on both sides of the end gaskets and a major glob in the corners will seal, but once I knew a guy cut enough for 12:1 compression and the intake to head won't seal and the motor wouldn't run.

 

I finally got the Vc's to stop leaking. There was a piece of gasket on the rear of the valve cover that I missed before. Its leak free now.