valve cover gasket now oil leak

tonyc · 09-01-2008, 08:07 AM

Well....I did my valve cover gasket yesterday along with plugs...Sportage runs great now.........but.......now there is an oil leak...am I correct in suspecting the gasket flipped out of the groove in the back while I was setting the cover back on? It seems to be leaking in the vicinity of the cam position sensor and down the back of the engine. I knew it all went too well. By the way...how tight should I tighten the valve cover bolts? I believe they are tight enough but anyone know the torque value? Thanks so much...I'll have to recheck everything this afternoon when I get up.

gomer · 09-01-2008, 09:10 AM

Did you tighten the valve cover bolts to torque and in sequence? If you don't know the torque specs for these, and I don't either off hand, tighten to snug plus a quarter turn until you do.

Man I need a tech manual.

tonyc · 09-01-2008, 09:26 AM

I snugged them down pretty well and in sequence....I just bet the gasket slipped at the back...that's all I can figure. Aside from that, it really runs great now.

gomer · 09-01-2008, 09:37 AM

Been known to happen. A trick I hear people go both ways on but I use is to hold the gasket to the valve cover with a little orange RTV.

bubbashrimp · 09-01-2008, 10:57 AM

Okay, stupid question time.

Is the valve cover gasket the same as the cylinder head cover gasket? I couldn't find a valve cover in the Kia manual but I did find the cylinder head cover and on my 99 Sportage it said torque to 35 - 52 inch pounds.

tonyc · 09-01-2008, 09:59 PM

OK....so I took the valve cover back off and the gasket is fine. It wasn't flipped. The guy at Advance Auto said it's possible I had it too tight...maybe. I put everything back together and made sure I just snugged the bolts down and 1/4 turn beyond...doesn't seem tight enough to me but what do I know...I'm from the old school (dad's school of tighter is better

). I asked for a torque wrench with in/lbs but he said they didn't have them anymore. If it still leaks, I'm at a my wits end. I'll take it to someone with more patience than I have. I considered applying some RTV to get it to seal. It blew out quite a bit of oil, ran down the sides and back of the engine and slung it all over the undercarriage. It was NOT doing that before. Lost about a quart over a 100 mile trip before it was found. This thing isn't a diesel, why would it have that much pressure inside the valve cover? It has a new PCV valve. Are there any vents that might be clogged I'm not aware of?
But as I said, the engine miss problem has resolved with the new plugs...fix one problem and trigger another one.

I guess I'll know tomorrow...I'm going to let it sit overnight to "set".

jcwit · 09-01-2008, 10:33 PM

Take your oil filler cap off while the engine is running, should be able to tell if you've got alot of pressure by just holding your hand over the filler hole.

bubbashrimp · 09-01-2008, 11:26 PM

You can get foot pounds by dividing inch pounds by 12. So if you want to snug it up, 4 foot pounds would be 48 inch pounds. Don't know how low your torque wrench goes, so 4 would be like one good fart worth.

giv1911 · 09-02-2008, 02:33 PM

Did you place RTV sealant at the corners of the camshaft flanges 2 (4places)on the front and one on the rear (2 places) (exhaust side). This is in the KIA sportage maintenance manual, I just did this very same thing this weekend (plus timimg belt and oil pan gasket). Just a dab at the base of each flange no leaks. Bryan M

tonyc · 09-15-2008, 09:49 PM

Ok...I took the cover back off to make sure I didn't miss anything, found some dried RTV in a corner I didn't see before...cleaned everything off so you could eat off it...used RTV in the strategic places and let it dry overnight before driving it anywhere. All seemed well. Car went to Florida and back from TN without any problems whatsoever. Well...today I'm finding oil under it again. I'm really at a loss as to what the problem is. It wasn't doing this before...unless it has coincidentally blown another seal somewhere. It runs terrific, no more misfire. Could the gasket be faulty and just not sealing? I'm about to order a different brand and do it again. I've gotten to where I can remove and replace the whole cover within an hour so it's not that difficult, just a PITA