[reptillikus]

So tomorrow is the big day, when i fix my leaky valve covers!
I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done (and how to do it) , and i pulled out my service manuals, but i was wondering if theres any advice you guys have? Maybe something that should be done a certain way, or something i should NOT do? Theres always something that the books dont tell ya, (and ive never done this on a ford before) so any advice coming from personal experience or whatever would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GearHead]

make sure when you get it all apart to get the head and the valve cover as clean as you can. get a can of brake cleaner. its an excelent degreaser. dont get the cheapest gaskets, and use some rtv and you should be ok.

 

[crossroads]

Gaskets

After you get the valve covers off,clean them up real good and put a small bead of RTV on them. Put the gaskets in place and tie them in place with some sewing thread. Then turn them upside down on a hard,flat surface with something heavy on them. Then clean your head surfaces, if you have EFI you will need to replace the upper intake manifold gasket also. Let the RTV on the valve covers "cure" for at least 30 minutes, trim the thread as close as possible before installation. BTW, follow the torque sequence closely and do not over torque. Be very careful with your vacuum lines as they are old and brittle by now. If they start cracking on you don't sweat it, just take some rubber vacuum line and slice them back together. Good Luck:thumbup

 

[BikerPepe`]

Take pics and do a write up! :rockon
The pics will help you put it all back together and the write-up will help me do it too!

(been putting it off becouse of all that damn EFI crap that has to come off... :brownbag )

 

[reptillikus]

Ok, so it sounds like there arent any major issuesi nned to concern myself with. Just alot of wires and hoses! I have both the valve cover and the upper intake gasket sets, as well as some Hi-Tak to hold the gaskets in place.
i didnt even think to get vacuum hose when i ordered my gaskets:duh I think i have some extra laying around somewhere.
Pepe, i was planning on taking some pics, although i dunno if ill do a full-blown write-up, mainly because of the way the weather is here today. Im with you man, that EFI stuff is crazy! I have been putting it off all summer cuz i didnt want to pull all those wires and hoses, but im starting to leave oil spots, so its time.

Well, enough procrastinating, here i go!

 

[gearrat]

oh and dont forget to number your plug wires :duh

 

[Midnight Rider]

I had to pull the upper intake when I did the oil pan in order to get enough clearance when lifting the motor. It was no wheres near as bad as i thought it would be. The hardest part was the torx bolt in the center but I have since seen that there a long enough bit available.

 

[havack]

Buy rubber not cork. That way they are reusable.....

 

[reptillikus]

Done!
Finished up a little while ago. Probably would have been done sooner, but we had to build a tent out of a huge tarp to keep the rain and wind (which got pretty bad near the end) out. I used cork gaskets; it never occured to me to get rubber gaskets. :duh
Gearrat, I did # my plug wires, and that def. saved me alot of grief later! :thumbup

Pulling the upper intake really wasnt that hard. Its all those wires and tubes that are the biggest pain!
Actually, the biggest issue i had was that torx bolt in the manifold. I wish i knew to get a super-long bit beforehand, i ended up running out to a store that didnt have one, and then coming back and improvising. The valve covers themselves were easy to do. Actually, most of the bolts were loose, which is probably why my leak got so bad! I guess 160k will do that.

its too rainy/windy now to start it up and do a visual inspection, so now its gotta wait till tomorrow morning.

 

[GearHead]

you can use loctite on the bolts. that will help them stay tight a little longer. if your worried about the loctite making it where they will never come out, use the green loctite. its not as strong as the red. i used red loctite on my valve covers and oil pan before, didnt make it to hard to take out. i used it again when i rebuilt my motor a year ago, no leaks yet.

 

[Zippy]

I had to pull the upper intake when I did the oil pan in order to get enough clearance when lifting the motor. It was no wheres near as bad as i thought it would be. The hardest part was the torx bolt in the center but I have since seen that there a long enough bit available.

why not just open the hood

 

[Crazed]

The intake hits the firewall...not the hood.

 

[BikerPepe`]

Glad to hear it wasn't too bad!
Hope it works out for ya... course if they were as loose as it's sounds then it's probably all good now!

 

[reptillikus]

Yeah, it appears that my leak has been beat! I intend to go back and degrease the bellhousing, since its quite grimy, and would hide any evidence should it still be slightly leaking.

It doesnt look like ill be doing a write-up for ya, though. I took pics of the wiring and vacuum lines, but the restis really self-explanatory, so i dont really have any others. If ya want though, lll post what pics ive got for ya to refer to when you do your covers. :thumbup

 

[BikerPepe`]

np bud, thanks anyway! I'll just jump in like you did, eventually. :thumbup

 

[bsd4083]

Take pics and do a write up! :rockon
The pics will help you put it all back together and the write-up will help me do it too!

(been putting it off becouse of all that damn EFI crap that has to come off... :brownbag )

Here is a video on an 1994 just like my 1987(5.0) valve cover remove and swap good video I think this is what we (I) want to see Part 1

...


Part 2

Part 3 Final Product

VIDEO OF THE HIDDEN TORX BOLT

 

[Wrencher61]

I was gonna warn you about that Torx bolt, but too late! To anybody doing this repair, look at the place where the valve cover bolts are. People tend to tighten them trying to slow the leaks down, which cracks the old cork gasket even more and is counterproductive. Then the cover is dimpled in the area of the bolt head. If your covers aren’t flat you will have more leaks. Straighten them using a small ball peen hammer and a piece of flat steel in a vise so you don’t crumple the edges....clear as mud, right? As Crossroads said, glue the gaskets to the valve covers, just don’t use something hateful like the yellow gorilla snot. The next guy to remove that shit will hate you. I like Permatex Aviation, but I’m an old fart, and the smell reminds me of when I used to work on airplanes.?

 

[fordbronco1995]

Or permatex number 2

 

[bsd4083]

So tomorrow is the big day, when i fix my leaky valve covers!
I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done (and how to do it) , and i pulled out my service manuals, but i was wondering if theres any advice you guys have? Maybe something that should be done a certain way, or something i should NOT do? Theres always something that the books dont tell ya, (and ive never done this on a ford before) so any advice coming from personal experience or whatever would be greatly appreciated.

I have an update..sometimes the dreaded full valve cover replacement is not necessary and your fix is like WINNING THE LOTTERY IN TIME AND MONEY.. FYI THIS ENGINE OF MINE WAS A NEW REBUILD WITH ABOUT 15K ON IT

I found another youtube video on an F150 with a 5.0 injected like mine and it showed me this :depending on the leak the fix might be easy.
My leak was from around the valve cover(sort of) then down the back side of the block. With a flash light and his video I followed the run off trails on both valve covers.

What I learned
1)my engine had the rubber gaskets 2) no oil spilled down the sides of the engine block around any of my plugs. 3) my oil trails were from the topside of the valve cover pans around the bolts 4) the oil dripped in the pan from the valve cover then was retained by the lower edge of the valve cover pan flange till it ran back and pooled in the lower rear corner of the valve cover pan then trickling down the back of the block. about 3-4 quarts a month.

The last observation i made Was all bolts were dry and tight except the three lower bolts on the low side of each valve cover just above the spark plugs. Additionally the washers under these bolts were loose and would spin, (the bolts were barely finger tight and that is where my oil trails started).

So the fix was test tightness all were very loose. therefore i removed them one at a time cleaned the surface of the cover(one at a time) and each bolt hole as best i could with paper towel, then the bolt.. Then i used the red rtv high temp silicon sealer coating on the threads lightly and putting a small blob near the head under bottom side of the washer @the head soo that when tightened the pressure would cause the sealer to squirt out from under the washer. I reinstalled each as i went one at a time cleaned up around the bolt with a paper towel wiping off any excess. Cost 5 dollars, time apx one hour thirty minutes for this girl. RESULTS I Am ON MY SECOND TANK OF GAS NOW TRAVELED APX 400 MILES AND DRY AS BONE. This truck was leaking about 3-4 quarts of oil every month and i feared the worst.. Seee where you leaks come from and maybe THIS WILL SAVE YOU TIME MONEY AND GRIEF.

BEST WISHES THERIN

 

[TheHalfJamaican]

My engine leaks like a sieve. The blow-back from the valve cover gaskets is so bad, it covers the engine within a week with me washing it. Also, my drain plug leaks because the idiot who owned it last cross threaded the bolt hole. I've been meaning to replace the valve cover gaskets and oil pan gasket for a while now, but it seems like a lot of work. So hopefully, when I have a few hours to tear down the engine, I'll clean off the covers, replace all 3 gaskets, re-thread the drain hole in the oil pan, then repaint both the pan and the valve covers.