whats with valve cover gaskets?

[Zim_Zim]

well ive had lovely experiences with my valve cover gasket. i had it replaced a few months ago 'cuz it leaked a bunch of oil into my spark plugs and wires, causing me to replace all of those. well the lovely smell of oil is still present in my car when im idling at a light or what not. when i went to get my oil change i asked them to check my valve cover gasket..in which they told me that it's leaking again! why, only after 3 months would i be needing to replace that part again? crappy mechanic? i dunno but im grumpy. i hate smelling oil burning.

[Joey's mx]

you must be taking your car to some rookies because i have taken my valve cover off 2-3 times and i have never had a problem!!

[Typhoonk]

I changed mine because I thought that's what it was. Was leaking onto my exhaust pipe, and it smelled horibble!!!
I changed it with an oem seal, alone with a lot of that gasket maker in a tube stuff. Worked great!

Then I cleaned my engine and ran it around. Now I realized that even though my valve cover gasket leaked - the seal around my distributor leaks even more!!!!!
So that's my next expense..........

[Casino]

chaning an valve cover gasket is a pretty simple thing to do.it shouldnt wearout that quickly howver.

mazda sells themfor around $30

[93SOHC]

Just a thought: Make sure you clean both surfaces really well, use gasket sealer with the new gasket, and above all make sure the bolts are set to the proper torque setting (you can find those in a haynes or chilton manual, or call mazda). If you over tighten the bolts it'll deform the gasket and it'll leak. Give it a shot

[Zim_Zim]

ya thats what i thought ive been told if its tightened to much it'll leak thats what i guess happened..i know they r cheap to buy its just annoying when i just had it replaced, now im all paranoid this crap will happen again. ill just get a mechanic who knows what he is doing..thnx guys! p.s they sell no chiltons or haynes manuals for 1996 mx3's here in ottawa..ive looked everywhere.

[BuGS]

My SOHC gasket is perfect. Has never been replaced. 146,XXX miles and I just took my vavle cover off this summer to paint it. No prolmebs ever.

[xashramx]

Trish... I used to live in Ottawa. I was forever looking for a Chilton manual too. Took me a couple of years but I finally found one. They do sell them at walmart, but the problem is if they don't have one in stock they won't order one for you. I asked. You just gotta wait till some "happen" to come in. I ended up finding one in Kanata. Same place I'd looked a million times before, and one day there were three there.. LOL

[Zim_Zim]

unfortunately my DOHC gasket sux. my car is 119,xxx miles and this is my 2nd. it leaks mostly when i abruptly stop my car or im idling at a light, thats when the stinkiness happens(oil). i know its cheap to fix, my luck is it will just happen again. the weird thing is since i replaced my distributor it doesnt stink as much. i have no clue why.

i guess ill keeping trying walmart's for that manual.thnx!

<small>[ November 28, 2004, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: TriSha_mx3_96 ]</small>

[93SOHC]

Also try Ebay, they have manuals once in a while!!