another RTV question

Hey i searched for this and have heard all the crap about how bad RTV is. I'm replacing my valve cover gasket and the guy at autozone said that I'm for sure gonna want to coat it in RTV otherwise it will leak oil. This sounds like a pretty good idea considering the notorious valve cover leak.(the reason im replacing the gasket in the first place.) So should i coat it in RTV? Do I just put some on the top and bottom? Also, if someone has an FSM or maybe even just a haynes, what are the valve cover bolts supposed to be torqued to? When tightening, I'm supposed to go from the middle out right?

thanks

91 XJ 4.0/aw4 etc. etc.

115 inch lbs.On the RTV use a small amount to hold the gasket to the cover and a thin film on the other side,let it skin over before bolting down.You will have to go over the bolts several times until they are tight.Working from the center out is a good idea.
Wayne

Litterally a tiny bit of RTV, just a little bit is more than enough to lube up the gasket and it will squeeze out under the clamping force and then it will leak.

Consider using gasket dressing, something that is sticky and tacky. I've had problems with RTV on Trans pan gaskets, they leaked with RTV (because the gasket squeezed out inbetween the bolts) but never when I used just a straight gasket.

Valve covers, I've used a tiny bead, like 1/32" thick and rubbed it into the center, but not all over, let it sit for a 1/2 hour to thicken a bit and didn't have trouble. If you coat the entire gasket with RTV, even if you give an hour to thicken, its going to act like lube and let the gasket squeeze out inbetween the bolts.

I use LocTite #518 Gasket Eliminator - put a THIN coat on both sides of the gasket, put the gasket on the valve cover, and reach for a soda.

Five minutes later, the gasket should be fairly stuck to the cover (518 has a long work time,) and I can then flip the cover over and set it onto the head. Put all the bolts in, and tighten them to CONTACT ONLY. Go for lunch.

About an hour later, come back and torque the bolts to 84 pound-inches/7 pound-feet, working in a "criss-cross" pattern. DO NOT EXCEED 84 pound-inches - I've seen that spec in a few FSM's, and it's worked for me every time I've changed a valve cover gasket.

There are two problems we'll have -
1) The gasket is easy to "squish out" from between the parts - that's why the low torque spec.
2) The long surface of the inline six head makes sealing difficult - just like on the manifolds (I check torque on my manifold bolts annually.)

5-90

thanks for the help everyone :thumbup:

have to say i was pretty happy to see 5-90 had replied to my thread...you've answered pretty much every thread ive started, you are a wealth of knowledge:worship: :worship: :worship:

oh yeah, and you other guys are alright too

Thanks, I think...

I try to answer questions where I can - and, hopefully, base the answers upon experience I've had at something or another (not necessarily Jeeps - but I've been swinging wrenches for about 30 years now. Got started when I was a kid...)

5-90