Rocker cover help

J

Joez4

Member
 West Midlands
I've noticed an oil leak coming from the the rear of the engine dripping onto the exhaust manifold, on closer inspection it's coming from the rocker cover gasket,

The gasket has been replaced recently by the previous owner so I was I bit stumped at why it would have failed already, so I decided to check the bolts, all of them are so loose i can almost turn them with my fingers anyway I've done them up snug for now as the tis guide says to do them handtight and not preload them but ista says to do that then torque them to 11nm.

Can anyone whose done this repair please advice on the correct procedure to tighten them ie the correct pattern and torque and any thoughts on why they would be that loose in the first place, maybe they were never tightened correctly or not checked again after initial installation?
 
Tbh on all my cars I’ve had I forget to look this up till I’m in the process of doing it and a bit mucky. I just do them up till I feel the rubber mount seals compress a little and then do a bit more. Not best practice I know but I lost my torque wrench did small numbers. Check after a few heat cycles
 
If your model has the round rubber seals that sit under the cover bolts these need replacing when a new main gasket is replaced. Do not use the old ones, they go hard with age and do not compress when the bolts are screwed back in. Also take a look at the bolts, they have a step in them that bottoms out on the head when they are fully screwed in thats why the round rubber seals are required to be compressable so the correct amount of pressure is applied to the main gasket to get an oiltight seal.
Elring do a complete gasket kit which includes the fifteen round rubber seals, I used the kit on my 2.5 and have not had any leaks since.
 
Tightened up the bolts to 8nm and have been leak free since, I'll retorque after a few heat cycles and hopefully they won't have loosened.
 
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