Valve cover won't come off

[Blast7]

Are the valve covers normally difficult to get off? I can't seem to pry mine off of the head. I am unsure of how to take if off because I don't want to damage the surface of the head by sticking a screwdriver in there and taking it off.

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Car of the Moment

1991 Black MTX
K&N Filtercharger
PP Motor Mounts
PP Y-pipe
Rod Shifter
Blazer Tech Fogs
"ur gonna love that sho, and everytime something breaks down..your gonna swear to all your friends that its going up for sale. and the minute you get it back you fall inlove all over again."~Blue

 

[fredhurderjr]

Are you sure you got ALL the bolts out? There are 2 off to the driver's side on each cover.

I use the plug holes to pull, rather than risking gouging the seal surface.

 

[SHOTIME]

Like fred was saying, there are two more bolts on the side of the cover after you remove the 8 chrome bolts that are in plain sight.

do you have 10 bolts in hand?

Which cover is it?
The rear has the fuel line connections on it.
Both have the intake brackets to overcome.

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Eric
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>
My Web Space
New England SHO SPecialists

 

[noSHO]

You can LIGHTLY take a screw driver to the smaller bolts that Eric and Fred were talking about. Carefully slide it under, and use gentle, but ample, pressure to help you pry up the cover. If this is your first 60k, those gaskets could really be baked on, and don't be surprised if you demolish one or both. Just hope you have a new set lying around. Of course, check first to make sure all your bolts are loose and out of the threads, and make sure the intake brackets are off of the intake. They don't have to be completely removed in the back, however, for obvious difficulty reasons.

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-Dave
green/black 92

 

[sdpatt]

You should really remove all of the bolts from the valve covers before pulling the covers off the heads. The reason for this is the long, chrome plated bolts can drag across the unprotected camshaft lobes if they are left dangling in the valve covers. The front valve cover is an easy, unrestricted lift, but the rear valve cover has interferences from the fuel lines on the passenger side and the EGR lines (ATX) or heater hoses on the driver side. Be safe always pull the bolts.

Scott

 

[Blast7]

Scott, I remember you saying that you should take out all of the valve cover bolts in a post a number of months ago. Therefor I did take the valve cover bolts out before I removed the valve cover. Thanks for the help guys. I actually took the end of a rubber hammer and positioned it on top of the valve cover. Then I tapped the end of the hammer to dislodge the valve cover. It worked well and I did not damage anything. Everything else went pretty well today. I had one mishap with a valve cover bolt. All of them but one came loose. I was able to get it off by hitting the end of the hex socket into the the valve cover bolt because it wouldn't go in there any other way. I had all of the bolts out. After all that I finished the front half of the engine. It took so long to get my valve cover clean but it looks brand new now.

I never thought it would come clean but it did. Now I have to try and clean all of that carbon out of the the intake manifold.

------------------
Car of the Moment

1991 Black MTX
K&N Filtercharger
PP Motor Mounts
PP Y-pipe
Rod Shifter
Blazer Tech Fogs
"ur gonna love that sho, and everytime something breaks down..your gonna swear to all your friends that its going up for sale. and the minute you get it back you fall inlove all over again."~Blue