My 90 Loyale is leaking oil around the bolts holding the valve cover. Is there any sealant required around the rubber grommets/washers of the bolts that hold the valve cover on or do you just tighten them up? They seem to be tight enough. Too tight?The gasket was replaced by a local shop recently and I can't say whether they changed the washers as well but even the local auto suppliers sell a gasket kit with the washers like SOA. I bought the SOA kit over the weekend to redo the job myself (don't you just hate that) and I wanted to make sure that I do it right this time.

usually they seal themselves up by tightening them, but sometimes, they don't like to seal all the way up so all you gotta do is put a little RTV sealant on them so them they will completley seal up.

Is it possible to overtighten the bolts? I don't have a torque wrench (though Christmas is coming) and I doubt there is enough clearance for a few of the bolts. So, is it possible by overtightening to distort the washer??

Yes it is. The torque is only something like 6 or 8 ft lb, not much oomph on the wrench at all.

Possibility of splitting the rubber if you go to tight. With no torque wrench, I would recommend to whatch the rubber part of the seal as you tighten the bolt, stop when you see it start to squish. May have to snugg them a bit later on down the road.

The rubber grommets on those things harden up after a few hundred miles from the heat. So if you remove the valve covers, they're generally never gonna seal again (although a bead of RTV works wonders).

 

Autozone sells the Felpro set for about $12, which included both valve cover seals and the bolt grommets. At that price, there's no reason to skimp on the grommets. I don't know if you've got Autozone in Connecticut, but u should be able to get the same set at a similar price.

 

I've used RTV to re-seal the grommets for a few hundred miles before I a planned gasket change, and it slowed the oil leak down to a few drops. Works, but at $12 it just makes sense to do it right. Extra torque alone won't get a hardened-up grommet to seal, and as Tom says, it could warp something.

 

-- Mark