[richsvo]

Hey all. Looking for some advice from someone who has had success with this valve cover gasket replacement.

I have already searched and have read numerous threads about the replacement and various issues that seem to occur, however none of them seem to be what I am experiencing.

I have actually done this twice now within about a 2 week period. It seems as though no matter how careful I am putting this on, torqueing down the bolts, following torque sequence, etc. It ends up leaking between the firewall and the head. Of course you can't really see anything in that area and the bolts are extremely difficult to get to. I am completely baffled as to what I am doing wrong.

Replaced the entire valve cover, valve cover gasket, bolts, the whole smash. This shouldn't be this hard!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[LA1Z24]

I bet the gasket falls out of the cover when you slide it over cylinder #6 valvetrain.

You should probably just replace the whole cover with an OEM part. It will come with a new gasket preinstalled to the cover. The cover will not have any oil in the land, which will help the gasket to stay in place when you flip it over.

[Fliplegend]

What brand VC did you buy? Because it matters a lot.

[Jvac]

Read somewhere on here that it's helpful to use a bit of spray gasket to help the actual gasket stay in place while installing the cover and tightening all the bolts since you can't tell if it slips out of position once the cover is on.

[richsvo]

Thanks to all for the replies!

I brought the pre-assembled VC and gasket kit from ECS tuning. I did use gasket spray as the first time I installed it, it leaked like a sieve from exactly what you are describing where the gasket falls out of its channel. I took the time to use the spray the second time, I also ran my fingers all around the cover after I had it set in place, slightly lifting to feel if it was flat underneath, etc.

But, even after all of that, it still leaks slightly, and it's kind of embarrassing to be sitting in a drive-thru with smoke coming out of your hood in your Ultimate Driving Machine

[Jvac]

Originally Posted by richsvo

Thanks to all for the replies!

I brought the pre-assembled VC and gasket kit from ECS tuning. I did use gasket spray as the first time I installed it, it leaked like a sieve from exactly what you are describing where the gasket falls out of its channel. I took the time to use the spray the second time, I also ran my fingers all around the cover after I had it set in place, slightly lifting to feel if it was flat underneath, etc.

But, even after all of that, it still leaks slightly, and it's kind of embarrassing to be sitting in a drive-thru with smoke coming out of your hood in your Ultimate Driving Machine

That sucks, I'm sorry. I can't recall anyone else having this much trouble unless they used a non oe cover or had the job done by a crummy mechanic. It sounds like you were careful and used good parts, so that's no fun. Are you sure it's coming from the vcg?

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by richsvo

Thanks to all for the replies!

I brought the pre-assembled VC and gasket kit from ECS tuning. I did use gasket spray as the first time I installed it, it leaked like a sieve from exactly what you are describing where the gasket falls out of its channel. I took the time to use the spray the second time, I also ran my fingers all around the cover after I had it set in place, slightly lifting to feel if it was flat underneath, etc.

But, even after all of that, it still leaks slightly, and it's kind of embarrassing to be sitting in a drive-thru with smoke coming out of your hood in your Ultimate Driving Machine

On my E92, my replacement from ECS was cracked and was leaking. We had to remove and reset/replace it 3 different times.
It can happen.

[richsvo]

I did not inspect that closely, as in my head, it was brand new.
Perhaps this weekend, I will first verify that is where it is coming from, although hard to see back there...
Then if so, I will remove again (I am a "pro" now!) and see if I can give it another try after close inspection, assuming no cracks, etc. found.

Appreciate all the comments guys!

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by richsvo

Thanks to all for the replies!

I brought the pre-assembled VC and gasket kit from ECS tuning. I did use gasket spray as the first time I installed it, it leaked like a sieve from exactly what you are describing where the gasket falls out of its channel. I took the time to use the spray the second time, I also ran my fingers all around the cover after I had it set in place, slightly lifting to feel if it was flat underneath, etc.

But, even after all of that, it still leaks slightly, and it's kind of embarrassing to be sitting in a drive-thru with smoke coming out of your hood in your Ultimate Driving Machine

Is that a Genuine BMW cover?

[yupetc]

I use marine grease to keep the gasket in full contact within the valvecover channel; and even that at times when I get close to the #6 valvetrain, I had to be very careful of any bumping or scraping by because the gasket is very easy to fall out. Anyway, marine grease or Energy Suspensions bushing grease are both very viscous grease to use to keep it in place and help with the installation. The only instance I had a leak after installation is with a 150k mile valvecover still in place, I quickly assume the valvecover itself is warped and swapped in with a brand new OEM valvecover, all are good after that.

[richsvo]

Hello, all.
Many thanks to those of you whom posted to my original questions. I wanted to take a moment to update you all on what I found.

So this last weekend, I decided to remove the existing VCG and cover, install a new gasket set into my original cover and reinstall onto vehicle. Much to my surprise, It made NO difference as the car was still smoking. This clearly was NOT POSSIBLE.

After observing the car running and heated to operating temp, I noticed that the smoke was coming from the O2 sensor (after the cat) on the downpipe. So, I decided to let the car cool down and then power washed the downpipe, O2 sensor and anything else in that area. Turns out that I had to use the highest pressure on the power washer. There was old oil in the couple of grooves that exist, both in the O2 sensor itself, and where it screws into the bung on the downpipe. I then ran the car again, until warm, and suddenly - NO SMOKE!

This all leads me to believe that there really wasn't a leak in the VCG before changing it, however, I learned that "not a lot of oil" stuck in the grooves of the O2 sensor can really put out some smoke!

So, I drove it all day yesterday on and off, with it getting quite warm in traffic, etc. and never did it smoke, and the downpipe looks clean and dry.

Hoping this may help someone down the road...

[yupetc]

Good to hear. Happy motoring, bro.

[supergoat]

Yep I changed my Valve cover and gasket about a month ago. Took two days for the accumulated oil from the original leak to burn off. Now it's nice and dry, no smoke or oil smell. All good.

[Burnout]

Glad you got it solved!

I’m still burning off old oil residue 600 km after valve cover replacement. I keep checking around the seal out of paranoia but all is well. A mirror on a stick you can adjust with built in LED lights is really essential on a VC replacement / gasket replacement.

I still have so mush oil in the drip tray that I couldn’t clean that I’m about to search to see if anyone has taken off the drip tray to full clean it and concurrently get better access to clean the manifold as you did.

[SWalters]

I've had a leaking VC since shortly after I pulled it off in the process of replacing ...something...oil cooler gasket, I think. It was around 70k miles. Started as a drip, and just got worse and worse until I had to throw cardboard under the car regularly. Exact same scenario as everyone describes - it drips right on the downpipe/converter. Initially, it would just have a puff of smoke every so often that rose out of the hood/fender seam. I would only notice it at a drive-up window...at first.

I have about 90k on it now, and it's gotten bad enough that I have been a little concerned about it actually igniting. When I stopped driving it I'd see the smoke at every light.

Soo....I have a road trip coming up and decided to go ahead and just get it fixed. I thought I'd pull it first, and then see if it was cracked or damaged, before I ordered a new one. At first, I was pissed because I couldn't find a bad spot in the gasket, or a crack. I really had to look HARD to find the crack, but it's definitely cracked. It's small, and appeared to be a case of a casting flaw making a weak spot that eventually gave out. Right along the firewall, dead center of the two bolts toward the fuel rail.

Old:



https://youtube.com/shorts/vk4b4XHoIZQ

Which do I order? Read too many stories about bad aftermarket VC's, so I figured I'd just pony up and get OEM. Had it shipped 2nd day, too. It showed up today, and I'll be damned if this one doesn't have the exact same casting flaw, and in fact it appears to already have a crack starting on the outside. You can see where it's going to crack on the inside too, but it doesn't appear to have made it all the way through. Has anyone else noticed this? Did you go ahead and use it? Did it crack again immediately?

Here's the new one: