Got a Cracked valve cover

[ag6286]

though ive been using it for about 4000 miles on the new engine now its come to my attention last night the severity of the problem....i had known oil was leaking out of it but not so significantly...i found out last night ther was so little, it stalled the car at an idle up to 2000rpm ! i quickly pulled into a parking lot soon after but not after hearing some very unfriendly grinding/squeeking noise from under the hood most likely the bearings or pistons rubbing. Luckily i had an extra 10W-40 quart of oil in my car.

I went to change out the oil today...nice, thick and black from a 4000 mile engine (2300 of it on the current oil) ....drained out only about 3/4 of a quart! plus some in the oil filter . I went to check the valve cover when i realized the bolts werent even tightened to 1 N*m! so i tightened em up to 8 or 9 N*m as specified for the 1mz-fe.....though i have a 3vz-fe i have no other reference.


so thats my story and now im here askin if anyone knows where i can find a cheap one....and NOT a junkyard unless you know of one with an inventory listing...none of those u-pull it places since you'll almost never find a 3vz-fe ther. Anyone have one for sale??? i need it asap, i fixed the crack for now with more epoxy and silicone but that wont last long.


again, this is a 3vz-fe and its the front valve cover....(the one with the oil fill cap on it), thx ahead of time 4 any info

[Digger1]

I realize this is ghetto and probably will not help you, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway.

Years ago, I cracked the valve cover on my '81 Mazda GLC. Being poor at the time, I took the cover off, cleaned it up real well, and sealed the crack from inside and out with JB Weld. After it cured, I coated the patch with silicone sealer.

My Dad, a pretty fair mechanic, proclaimed that my repair job would not last a thousand miles.

Well, 130,000 miles and 14 years later, when I finally sold the car, you could see just a little darkness around the patch. It had never leaked any oil during all those years.

Good luck!

[zoni]

go to the junkyard man, thats the only way... either you pull it off (cheaper and not too difficult at all!) or you usually have to buy the whole head. they usually include the valve cover in the head, so you may have to buy a head, if you go locally...
check the inventory search on www.car-part.com for just the valve cover.

[ag6286]

^^ thats what i was lookin for..that car part website...couldnt remember it...thx

as for the epoxy...way ahead of ya....thats what was on it the past 4000 miles but the guy who did it didnt do a good job at torquing down the valve which ultimately lead to breaking the orig epoxy seal

[Luckynumber5]

Jb weld shold hold to aluminum very well they expand at the same rate when heated, try cleaning it really well and jb welding it like Digger said.

[ag6286]

^^^attempted and successful......for now....basically sealed the crack and where the gasket conjoins from bolt to bolt at either end of the crack since it cant be torqued down properly