Hello, I need a bit of advice. I was informed that my valve headers are leaking oil, by the local dealer. Judging by the smell of burning oil, and the smoke coming off the engine...I am inclined to believe them. How do I go about replacing the gasket? Do I just remove the bolts, and then put on the new gasket? Any tricks or trouble spots I should be aware of? Also I have heard that the bolts need to be tightened to a specific torque...anyone know if that is true, and if so, how tight?

Thanks in advance

if anyone has any pictures that would be greatly appreciated. I am good with electrical equipment, but not so much when it comes to engines.

dd

 

I am not sure what you are referring to. I've never heard of anything called a valve header. Do you think they meant valve guides? Valve seals? Valve covers?

 

I'm assuming valve covers is what you mean but we need to know what year we are talking about.

 

Buy the Helms manual for your year of Corvette and you can do the job yourself, do the job right, and save money in the process.
Avoid the dealers if at all possible.

Larry
code5coupe

 

Exhaust header?

 

Valve Covers?

 

niner?

 

The first item on the agenda is to pick a GM Shop Manual by HELM for your Vette. This manual contains specs for various bolts, pics of components and their locations, wiring details and service "how to" steps for your Vette.

The valve covers are located on either side of the center intake. If you see engine oil around either of these valve covers you need a set of Fel Pro valve cover gaskets for your Vette, available from Auto Zone.

To replace the gaskets you will need to remove a few accessory tubes, move some accessories, including the EGR tube, and such.

Check out the source of oil leaks on your engine and bring us more info. and pick up that shop manual. Help will be here, as you need it.

Good luck.

 

I'd bet a dollar he met valve covers.

Thats not hard! All you need from the dealer is the factory rubber gaskets then remove your covers, take out all the old gasket material, and reinstall with the new ones. No need to Gorilla torque them just make em evenly snug!

 

I'm assuming you mean valve covers. Since you see oil running down the motor, you can't mean valve seals, that wouldn't be visible except as smoke from teh exhaust.

Valve cover gaskets aren't too hard to replace. The most annoying part is getting everything out of your way so you can do it

We need to know what year your talking about before we can be more specific. ie I don't know if your talking about teh old style covers that had 4 bolts around the outside edge or the center bolt covers...

But basically, unbolt them, take the covers off, remove the old gasket material. Soome is bound to be stuck on the valve cover and on the lip that it seals on the head. Use a putty knife or soemthing to remove all the old gasket material. be careful cleaning it from teh head. You don't want to get a lot of crap in there. Finally, use some good sealant on both sides of teh gasket and put them back - replace the bolts and tighten.

I think there may be a torque spec on those, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head. I don't believe it's too much... just tighten them by hand. You'll be fine. Depending on which year your working on and how much stff is in the way, you may not be able to get a torque wrench in there anyway.

Hope that helped.

 

Click on "Search" in the red bar at the top of this page. Click on "advanced search" and type in Valve Cover Gasket.
You can shorten the selections by clicking on C4 Tech or C4 General.
Lots of info here that should tell you how to do this.
Ditto on the Helms manual. You might find a used one on Ebay or advertise for one in the C4 Parts Wanted section.

 

Sorry guys, I meant valve covers

 

FelPro makes a nice rubber gasket for the centerbolt valve covers. Remember not to overtighten them. Just get them snug and double check each bolt.