Hi, I just got a 98 L4 avenger. The engine valve cover gasket appears to be leaky, I can see some oil leaks at the two front corners. I checked the engine oil every other day since I got it two weeks ago, surprisingly, the oil level looks stable. But I do see some small area of oil spot on the ground. All the other fluid look fine, except that I haven't checked the manual transmission fluid yet.
Do I need to change the valve cover gasket immediately or I can wait until the weather is better?
Do I need to buy the gasket kit including the spark plug seals or just the valve cover gasket?
How difficult is the job? Is it easy to remove the old gasket?
Changing a valve cover gasket is super easy and will take like ten minutes. As for the "kit" I'd pull the valve cover off and check the other seals that the kit includes. If they need to be replaced do it, if not no biggie. I think it's like twelve bolts to take off the valve cover. Four on the coilpack and eight (maybe only six) on the valve cover itself. Disconnect your two air lines and the valve covers off.
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Mod List. Um WAY too many to fit on here. But the engine can handle about 800HP
I changed mine out back in November, it was not a hard job at all and I am in no means a mechanic. I would have had it done in less than an hour if I would not had to re-drill and tap one of the bolt holes. That is the only thing that you need to watch for, heat can do bad things to aluminum heads and striping out the threading is not hard to do. Be careful and do not force anything and do remove the bolts by the sequence the repair manual gives. Another thing, once you have the valve cover off, just get the job done do not do a whole lot of playing because you do not need to mess anything up while your in there, if you have any carbon buildup leave it alone unless you know what your doing. Only if you have oil on the spark plug and if the white porcelain look black or burned would you need to change the plugs and wires. Also; change out your PVC valve, because that is probably the reason why the valve cover gasket has failed.
I was wondering if I have to do the same thing on my car, plugs 1-3 are bathed in oil completely, so would I need to get the same gasket kit or is it something different? Plug 4 has no oil on it at all
I hope it's a gasket problem and not bad rings. Of course bad rings aren't much more work than a head gasket problem. Head gasket would be the cheaper of the two. It's a matter of money. Do you have the cash to do both at once or do you have to try the head gasket first and see if that helps?
Good luck.
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Mod List. Um WAY too many to fit on here. But the engine can handle about 800HP
I guess ill try the head gasket first, cuz to do the rings I would have to get a shop to do so, right.
Hold on there, it's not your head gasket. If your spark plugs are saturated in oil then again it's your valve cover gasket. If you were experiencing a head gasket problem then you would be experiencing over heating problems and antifreeze in your oil. Before too long you probably will be replacing your head gasket, because the factory head gasket is not much more then paper and head gasket is a common failure for our cars, but don't worry about it before you have to. The head gasket is a different kind of beast, now your valve cover gasket consist in one gasket per spark plug chamber (there is your problem) and one gasket that raps the entire valve cover.
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