Valve covers cuz oil leak

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Roadkill

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318
I'm doing my first valve cover gasket change on my Ram and I was just wondering if any of you guys have any tips or tricks? I did a little research as far as if I should put a sealant on the gaskets or not. Some say yes, some say no, some say it depends.

I have a stock 318 so I was just gonna get the regular rubber gaskets.

Also, what should the cover bolts be torqued to? Don't wanna get them too tight. Should the valves be cleaned when I take off the cover and if so, what's the best way to clean them?

Thanks for the help! Hopefully I can get an afternoon soon to get this done.
 

dodge dude94

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Torque em to like 12in lbs or so, not much. Make sure they're clean and straight.

Don't be like me and manage to make the one that wasn't leaking, leak and the other that was leaking not leak.
 
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Roadkill

Roadkill

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Lol, hopefully that doesn't happen to me. So no go on the sealant? And should I clean the valves? I plan on doing an oil change after I fix the oil leak since I've added like 5 extra quarts of cheapo oil to keep the engine oiled until this is fixed.

Thanks for the response dodge dude!
 

Padilen

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I had an 85 with a 318 that covers leaked. Under warranty dealer kept sealing them. I changed them after warranty was up with better gaskets. At 85,000 oil light started coming on when engine was hot. Oil level was fine. Had oil pressure checked "normal" for miles. Kept doing it . I dropped the pan and found the oil pickup crammed with lots of different color RTV sealants. Truck smoked when starting cold and used a quart of oil per 500 ish miles. At 113000 miles my cousin totaled it.
So No !
 

Sitedrifter

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if the gaskets are rubber, use nothing but torque lightly. If the gaskets are cork, use Permatex High Tack!
 
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Roadkill

Roadkill

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Awesome! Thanks for the replies guys. I really appreciate it.

Just need to know if the valves should be cleaned with something or if the gasket swap is all thats needed. I'm not sure what's routine when changing out the valve cover gaskets. Sorry to be asking stuff over an over, but just not sure.
 
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Roadkill

Roadkill

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Welp I took care of the job today and it went pretty well, besides me spilling about a quart of fresh oil all over my freshly cleaned valve covers :|

Everything went smoothly though, even with the bolts in the back hiding under all the harness wires. Oil is holding pressure and not dropping every time I go to brake.

I guess the mods can lock this since my questions have been answered and the issue has been solved. Thanks to all that helped!
 

Slamminwagon

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I used the old fashioned cork gasket with some Indian head shellac and my leaky valve covers went away and is been a long time
 
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