Valve Cover Gasket??'s

[ABerri]

I have a 1998 SHO with about 73K miles on it. I had the car parked for many months and I just started driving it about two months ago and I can smell oil burning from the engine area everytime I'm done driving.

Turns out there is very slow seepage of oil right under the valve cover. The Ford Dealer wants almost 600 bucks to fix both sides and if I just do one side, they said the right side costs more money since it's closer to the firewall. I'm not sure which side it is yet but for now I sprayed off that area and wiped it down clean so I can watch if anything new comes back.

I live in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Anyone know someone around here that is reputable on these cars but one that isn't gonna charge an arm and a leg to fix this or is the dealer price fair? I'm assuming any auto mechanic should be able to do this job am I right? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks guys.

Need to get this fixed ASAP so I can turn around sell my car before I relocate!!!:sun:

 

[mustangracer91]

ya don't necessarily need to have that fixed before you sell it, put it in the shotrader section with some pics and detailed info about the car and just sell it as is. ****, if the color and price is right I'd buy it for myself.

 

[rubydist]

The right bank is a lot more work to do, but $600 seems kinda steep. But, the gaskets are expensive and only seem to be available from Ford, so expect to pay at least $400 if you pay someone to do it.

My experience is that in the situation you describe, you have a reasonable chance of the gaskets swelling back up and sealing again if you drive the car regularly for a few weeks.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

99% of the time, the actual gaskets don't need replacing. They just need to be cleaned, the channel in the valve covers cleaned, and the mating surfaces on the heads cleaned.

Last time I checked, there weren't any valve cover gaskets at any dealer in the country. They didn't show as discontinued, but again there were zero in inventory which usually means they're about to be d/c'd.

Anyway, I don't know what the book says, but realistically you're looking at about 2 hours labor plus the cost of the gaskets. Shouldn't be more than about $400 total. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head in AZ that works on V8 cars, but I'll ask Kirk tomorrow.

 

[Silvapain]

I soaked my gaskets in lacquer thinner to clean and recondition them; learned that trick from Paul Nimz (SHOZ123).

 

[ThatShoGuy]

I soaked my gaskets in lacquer thinner to clean and recondition them; learned that trick from Paul Nimz (SHOZ123).

thats a good idea but when i installed my motor i cleaned the gaskets and use copper RTV on them and made sure they wont leak.

 

[97SHOgt]

I replaced mine because the rear was dripping on the exhaust. Pretty easy to do yourself other than removing the intake. I got mine off of ebay for about $100 I think.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

I replaced mine because the rear was dripping on the exhaust. Pretty easy to do yourself other than removing the intake. I got mine off of ebay for about $100 I think.

lol RTV is like 8$ a tube! works great imo!

 

[ABerri]

Everyone thanks for all of your responses so far you have been extremely helpful. Many of you sound like you did the repair yourselves, I'm not that good at all and don't have any tools so I would need to find someone around here to do this. Besides after reading all of your responses, it doesn't seem as serious of an issue so I may and try to sell my car without repairing it since it seems like an easy job for any SHO enthusiast out there. I will post my car up for sale in a few weeks on this website. For anyone interested in preliminary info feel free and PM me.

Bizzy, I'm not sure if this is violating forum rules by stating I am selling my car even though I didn't provide any details or anything yet. If so, let me know and I will edit my post. Thanks!