[rbdome]

Teg: 2000 LS 2DR Auto, 69 K miles.
My valve cover gasket leaks at the front. The so called cam seal appears to be fairly clean. In lieu of replacing the gasket with a new one, could I effectively stop the oil leak with a slight tightening of the valve cover bolts at the front ? I'm afraid if I torque too much, the oil leak will be worse. Any suggestions ? What is the max. torque for these bolts ?

 

[FuNkDrSpOt]

from what i remember it was 7 - 10 ft/lbs. You're supposed to start in the top left and work clockwise.

Make sure to put plenty of hondabond on the gasket around the humps.

 

[94pos]

you should prob get a new gasket, but if you try tightening make sure you use a torque wrench. Those bolts strip really easily, at like just slightly over 7-8 foot lbs. which is not much force at all.

 

[wpgteggy]

i read somewhere that doing that will do absolutely nothing.
i could be wrong though.

 

[ImajinAZN]

the gains that you will get are marginal from tighter bolts. clean off the area around the valve cover and then find where it is exactly leaking from. then i would put more honda bond in that area, or just replace the gasket if its bad. overtightening the bolts is generally not a good idea because the bolts are too small and the studs like to snap.

 

[95-TEGGY-ELES]

yea i snapped one [the one that connects to the ground] but it would be good to show a pic of the leak. My valve cover is chipping at the gasket area but its not leaking.

 

[integrajerzey]

Helms: 7.2 ft/lbs

 

[rbdome]

ImajimAZN, instead of tightening the bolts, do you suggest applying Hondabond to the valve cover to head junction after cleaning the joint to stop the leak, without removing the valve cover? Instead of using (from what I understand to be expensive) Hondabond sealant, what other sealants would be appropriate?

 

[juce]

I wouldnt go past 10ft lbs on those. I stripped mine pretty easily. Quite the piss off to get another from the dealer and reinstall.

 

[integrajerzey]

I wouldnt go past 10ft lbs on those. I stripped mine pretty easily. Quite the piss off to get another from the dealer and reinstall.

Read my post.

 

[FuNkDrSpOt]

If you snapped a bolt those things can leak some oil. I did about 500 miles in a trip from Sacramento to Modesto and then Sac to San Francisco and I had lost around 2 1/2 lt of oil. I was at the bottom of the dip stick.

The studs aren't that expensive if you break them. Just replace them.