Finally got it right.

[JohnW63]

Well, I guess the third time is the charm. Unfortunatly, that's how many times it took me to get the valve cover set right. The front one has been fine, since the first time, 3 days ago. The back one had to come off 3 times. The first time, I didn't pull the stuff away far enough and a part of the corner must have rolled in and had a large oil leak. The second time I wired stuff out of the way, but still had a smaller oil leak from another back area. Last night, I just couldn't get the darn EGR lines out of the way enough for the cover to easily clear the chain. I realized that part of the problem was the steel tube portion of the heater lines. So I discontected the hose on the fire wall and pushed the EGR lines behind the tubing. ALl the time hoping all this pushing and pulling didn't break the darn things. The cover went down much easier. I still wasn't sure so I lifted it up and looked under the cover from the front. It looked good. Then, I used a shop light and a little mirror on a hinge to visually check. It looked good, but there are some areas that you just can't get a look at. This morning there were a couple of drops on the floor, but they must have been residule oil from the first two times.

The only good thing about needing to do this AGAIN, was that my order of new plug wires anf thermostat finally came in and I could install them without the intake on. Geez am I glad it doesn't leak any more.

After having so much fun with this job, I'm seriously considering letting some one ELSE do the timing belt and front end stuff. Even if I have to make a road trip to find a decent mechanic.

JohnW