A Story about a Valve Cover

[Venom_5]

so i set off to paint my valve cover a few weeks ago ... but there have been MANY delays for all sorts of stupid reasons

first and foremost, none of the shops near me had the Duplicolor 500* paint i wanted for my heat shields and valve cover ... [im prolly gonna get another color to do the 2-tone paintjob that RedPhoenix did]

then the next week i was all set to go, and i tried to take the nuts around the spark plugs off ... but nope - i dont have a wrench big enough ... so thus begins the search for a 30mm socket [thanks Adam/ASG14 for the heads-up], which was impossible to find ... 3/4 stores had 29mm and lower

and THEN, yesterday ... finally i get everything apart, except the cover wont come off because the black piece on the left side wouldnt budge ... but i got past that with a lil help from RedPhoenix via AIM ... so i painted it last night

but i didnt have a new gasket - so i was gonna drive in to work with my mom in the subaru, but nope ... she left me ... so i scrambled to put things back together as much as possible and i started the camry - IT SOUDNED LIKE A V12 ENGINE ... because the valve cover was wedged open, apparently ...
but i said f*ck it and just went to work

well im 9/10ths of the way to work, and all of a sudden im engulfed in a cloud of smoke coming from my engine bay ... bad news ... but i continue on and get into work - i make a call to the dealer [only 3 or 4 blocks from my job] and make sure they have a gasket in stock

i get the gasket first thing after work - engine ablaze (well, smoking ... from all the oil burning thats being spilt EVERYWHERE in my just-cleaned engine) ... i get home, stop the car and fill my garage with smoke - like crazy ...


i run inside and hope for the best - noticing my smoke alarm in the garage didnt work, which was a good thing ... 30 mins later i put on my mechanics gloves and wipe down as much of the oil as i can without burning my hands ... then check the oil level ... well its completely empty

so now i havta wait 2 more hours for the car to cool ... then i can replace the gasket ... and meanwhile im gonna be making a trip to a gas station or something to get some oil!

[midnightmach]

oh god, what a hassle lol. Get biking to the gas station haha. BUt that is crazy, i cant believe you drove it haha. Oh and the paint looks nice!

[Venom_5]

correction: looked nice

now its smoked and oiled

i just got my valve cover off, im gonna let it cool for an hour or 2

[CamryPunk]

It's not a head gasket you need, it's the valve cover gasket.

[360glitch]

Yikes. I'll pray for you, haha...

[Venom_5]

Originally Posted by CamryPunk

It's not a head gasket you need, it's the valve cover gasket.

who said anything about a head gasket? i have a valve cover gasket waiting to be put on after my engine cools down...

[midnightmach]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

who said anything about a head gasket? i have a valve cover gasket waiting to be put on after my engine cools down...

[Venom_5]

ok,the gasket is in the cover ... im afraid to put the cover back on tho cuz i feel like that wasnt the cause of the leak

my old gasket looks like its in perfect condition [even tho its definitely not new]

does anyone know a specific torque for the big spark plug nuts on top? or should i just screw it all the way down until the top is even with the first/top thread?

[95PimpingCamry]

I bielve the tourqe is 13 ft-lb for the spark plug tube nuts. Don't just make the nuts level, do it until they are tight.

[Venom_5]

i think its all better ... i didnt drive around, so ill find out for sure tomorrow

[Curry]

Good luck! and that my friends is why I didnt take mine off. ROFL.

My car is constantly being moved. Just the other day my brother took it and didnt tell me, at this point I didnt position the line for the oil pressure gauge he comes back and tells me its leaking oil. im like WTF. So I turn the car on and sure enough the hose is squirting oil. while he drove it was bracing against the exhaust mani.

[eljoekickass]

You need to get The Club thing so people can't just drive around without your ok. Whenever i don't want my brother to take the car, i just leave the hood open and tell him that i'm fixing it. He always falls for it.

[Curry]

Well i let them know already. Last thing i need is him driving the car with the turbo, trying to run people on the highway and brings my car home on the back of a flatbed because he blew the motor or something.

[Venom_5]

well i lost about 1.9 Qts ... cuz thats how much castrol GTX 10W30 i put in there until it read near Full on the dipstick

-.-

hopefully it wont leak 2morrow

[bigbird]

doesnt sound like u were empty then, but that is a risk i wouldnt have taken, all it takes is one time. but if u only lost 1.9 qts then im sure its ok.