harjothundal

So earlier this year, I noticed an oil burning smell while driving the car. I was able to visually inspect the engine bay and pinpointed an oil leak around the valve covers... I replaced both sides and all was well, until recently... I would intermittently smell burning oil again, though it was very faint so I didn't think much of it... I have a habit of always opening the hood after I park the car in the garage in an effort to help the massive amount of heat escape instead of stayin trapped in the engine bay... Whenever I would open the engine bay, I would get the smell of oil as the heat would rush out... I inspected the engine again yesterday and noticed that the passenger side valve cover was still leaking, except this time it was much worse...

After taking a closer look, I noticed the oil covered the entire valve cover which began to worry me... After taking engine cover and intake off, I was able to see where the oil was leaking out from... There is a small compartment at the top of the valve cover where the PCV hose attaches... After doing research and with help from the MBW community, I learned there's no gasket, just RTV Sealant... I was able to pick up a nice sized tube from Kragen for 6 bux... not bad at all...

Here's some pictures to show the oil leakage before I began any work... The pictures don't show it, but the coils were literally soaking wet with oil on the underside...















Before I began any work, I extended my hood to allow for easier access... This is actually really easy to do... On both sides of your hood, you'll have a little switch like this built into the hinges... I lowered the hood a little, pressed the button, and was then able to fully raise the hood... I'm not sure if you have to lower the hood a little to be able to activate this or not, but I couldn't get the switch to nudge until I did so...









Here's the cover after cleaning it with a wire brush...



Here is the inside of it cleaned up and ready for the new bead... Taking the old sealant off was a pain in the ***, and easily took a good 30 minutes or so of scrubbing...



Here's a closeup...



All Cleaned up...









Here's the Sealant I bought from Kragen... The guy said it was the best one they had...



Here's the Sealant applied...



I wanted to make sure I put enough of the sealant to get the job done...



Here she is all closed up and nicely cleaned! Letting the sealant set overnight and hoping for a good outcome tomorrow =)

lowprofile

I'm certain there is a gasket in there. Did you try to just snug the two bolts on top?

James@ACG

you need a gasket for the valve cover, and the smaller piece on top of the large valve cover uses sealant.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

+1 on what James said. I just installed some gaskets last night and used gasket making paste for the small cover on the back.

harjothundal

Thanks for the replies guys! The big gasket has been replaced, is there any specific brand of that sealant paste to use, or is it all the same?

harjothundal

Got the little cover off... What a pain that was! Off to the auto store to buy come sealant... Thanks for the help guys!

shardul

iTrader: (1)

any RTV sealant is fine

lowprofile

I stand corrected.

Yacht Master

In the stickies we have a DIY by BrianS

https://mbworld.org/forums/3337855-post1.html

Here is valve cover replacement on a N/A M113

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210...er-gasket.html

WHTEVO

Sorry to get off topic, but what are those two gold colored cylinders on the front of the engine? I don't remember seeing those last time i had my engine cover off.

Aaron

harjothundal

Thread has been updated... I always thought those 2 gold cylinders were for cooling the supercharger?

shardul

iTrader: (1)

No those 2 gold in colored unit are actuators valves for the secondary air system (emission stuff) has nothing to do with cooling

Infiniti

nice job man. btw do you have any other pics of the car? if so post up! haha

harjothundal

You can view my gallery here on MBW... It contains pics of both mine and the old ladies ride...

https://mbworld.org/forums/members/h...e55-clk55.html

stevebez

I have the same leak - spotted yesterday... may as well buff up the covers and do these gaskets too...

harjothundal

Good luck! It's not very hard especially if you have experience working on autos... I took 2 years of Auto Shop in High School... That was about 10 years ago, but the basics came back as I worked on the beast... Good luck!

tbal

These covers sit ontop of the valve covers correct? On each side?

WHTEVO

/\ yup

Aaron

Alps

Whilst putting in my ~K&N`s yesterday, i also have this leak!

did you guys replace the bolts when changing the gaskets?

I may just re-seal the plate for the time being

shardul

iTrader: (1)

no you can reuse the bolts

grantwoodtx

New bolts are not required. If you are going as far as resealing the two top covers it's really not that much harder to remove the valve covers and fit new gaskets.

grantwoodtx

You beat me to it LOL!

Alps

perfect, nice one, maybe i will replace the gaskets, i saw the other "How To".

How did you guys clean off all the oil and did you do it before fixing the leak\during or after? may sound like a silly question but dont really want to rinse it out whilst sitting in the garage!

I sound like a newbe with all these questions! I just hate working on engines as theres always something i forget or havent got !

grantwoodtx

I used brake cleaner to strip all the oil off. I also used brake caliper paint to touch the valve covers up. I tried polishing or buffing them up and as BrianS said in his sticky it requires a LOT of elbow grease to polish the covers.

bobgodd

Did all of you use a liquid gasket/sealer in conjunction with the actual gasket like Yacht Master did? I was under the impression that the gasket was all that was needed.

I did mine today and after reinstall I still have leaks.