Valve Cover Gasket 2000 XJ

[Yesterday's Danish]

Well oil is leaking out from under the valve cover so I've decided to put in a new gasket. Any tips or tricks for this job? I've never done it before but it seems pretty straight forward. I spent the extra dough and bought the Fel-Pro rubber gasket. This is for the 4.0.

[dfreeman616]

make sure you don't over torque the bolts when you put it back on. they're only rated in IN lbs not FT lbs.

[Yesterday's Danish]

Thanks. I think my Haynes manual has the torque specs. Does anyone know the size and thread count of the valve cover bolts? Mine are all rusty so I wanted to replace them with grade 8 bolts.

[jimoshel]

Why grade 8? Your only clamping down a valve cover, not the head. I'm sensitive to this as I have been trying to remove a half dozen or so remains of bolts froze in the frame after I twisted off the heads. So far I've burned up 2 drill bits and snapped off 2 ezee outs trying to remove them and they're only grade 5.

[Yesterday's Danish]

So regular grade 2 bolts would be fine for the valve cover? I just want something that won't rust.

 

I just found that the bolts are 1/4"-20. :thumbsup:

[Automan2164]

Why grade 8? Your only clamping down a valve cover, not the head. I'm sensitive to this as I have been trying to remove a half dozen or so remains of bolts froze in the frame after I twisted off the heads. So far I've burned up 2 drill bits and snapped off 2 ezee outs trying to remove them and they're only grade 5.

 

Wouldn't you want grade 8's so they wouldn't snap if they take some stones to get out? Properly torqued of course.

 

Rob L. :dunno:

[jimoshel]

Never thought about it that way. your right.

The ones I twisted were just plain rusted on. Original torque had nothing to do with it.Has anyone noticed how much easier, but not as much fun, new cars are to work on over 20-50 year old ones? :cheers:

[Automan2164]

:banana:

 

Rob L.

[jteckmann]

Only other tip would be a small can of high-tack gasket sealant (I like the brush-on kind - not as messy, IMO). Holds the gasket firmly in place while you're working the valve cover back on. I don't know about the 4.0, but on my 2.5 it's very tricky to keep the back edge of the gasket in place. I also put a good coating of it on the bolt threads.

[jimoshel]

Just do one side of the gasket, the side next to the valve cover. This way the gasket stays in place while installing and the cover can be removed with out leaving gasket material on the head.

[Yesterday's Danish]

Awesome, thanks guys. Off to home depot for some new bolts and then I'll tackle this job.

[Yesterday's Danish]

I got the valve cover off but in the process I busted one of the plastic hoses that goes into the valve cover. It's the one in the rear or the closest one to the firewall. Looks like it goes to the throttle body. It broke off at the elbow. Anyone know what part I need? More importantly how do you get that hose out of the valve cover without breaking it? Just wanna know this for next time. I got the one that goes to the air box pretty easy.

 

Anyway tomorrow i'm gonna clean up the valve cover real good and clean the gasket surface on the engine. Thanks for the help guys.

[Geonovast]

Not sure how relevant this is now, but I did have a VC bolt snap on me during removal once on a very oily 89 4.0.

 

Luckily that bolt missing didn't cause any leaks... at least not while the XJ was still in the family.

[Yesterday's Danish]

If anyone else goes through the same crap I went through here is an excellent thread on it. I'll have to pick up a new CCV valve and grommet.

 

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/4-0l ... up-733669/

[Eagle]

So regular grade 2 bolts would be fine for the valve cover? I just want something that won't rust.

Then you want stainless steel. Grade 8 is not stainless, and will rust.

[Yesterday's Danish]

My valve cover was pretty rusty and dinged up. So I decided to take an extra day and give it a few coats of paint. Hopefully after Easter I can put this all back together.

 

Looks pretty good in the engine. I don't see any sludge.