Valve Cover Installation Gone Wrong (Updated 2/26/11)

[amc78concord]

I recently bought my new valve cover, and had my buddies shop put it on for me.  Mainly because I didn't want to mess around with drilling holes and making a mess of my engine and not knowing if I could get it back together.  Well, this plan didn't go so well.  

I went to go pick up the car in high spirits, hoping the car would look good under the hood and my oil leaks would be cured.  I walked in the door and my friend says, "Yea, we had a bit of problems with your Eagle." "We put the cover on and about 5 minutes later after starting it up, there was a bunch of smoke pouring out of the engine."  ...I thought he was just joking with me, as he always gives me crap about my Eagle.  But he wasn't, with the new aluminum valve cover, some wires on the back side we're bare and then because it was aluminum now instead of plastic, it conducted electricity...  He said they repaired the wires and wrapped them real good, and said that he noticed no electrical components were harmed.  Well I said good, and got the keys and walked out to my car.  >>>But, it wasn't good... I started it up and noticed things weren't right...

>>>My tachometer doesn't work, which I just put on like a week ago
>>>Temperature gauge doesn't work
>>>Car doesn't idle right, like a misfire
>>>Still leaking oil, still from the valve cover by the Carb
>>>And, later I found out that when drilling the holes for my valve cover, he drilled to deep and drilled into my water jackets in my head

I am leaking anti freeze, slowly but surely, out of the side of my valve cover.  Is this a serious thing? Is my head going to be ok? Can I just have them put a bunch of gasket sealer in there?  Or is my whole head shot now???

Why does it seem that everytime I try to fix something, something else ends up breaking and makes it worse than what it originally was?  Basically, I'm not a happy camper.  It's running like absolute crap, some electrical things don't work right, and I just spent a lot of money on a car that can't even be driven now.  It's also snowing outside now, and I don't even have an Eagle to have fun out there with...  

[doneagle]

          HI sorry to hear about your car . the head will be alright mine is in to the water jacket I have to silicone on the bolt. about the electrical that is more hands on.I would have to be there and test certain things to find out what is wrong I hope this helped some     Don

[ammachine390]

Sorry to hear about all that. That really sucks. Have you checked all the fuses fusible links. The temp gauge sending wire is located on head right next to the valve cover in the back, so maybe they left the wire off and forgot to put it back on. Also, for the antifreeze leak, make sure its not leaking into the oil. I think I read on here that one way to fix that, is to remove the screw, and put some rtv on and reinstall.

[Jurjen]

Wow, sorry to hear that, they really did a very bad job (and that's an understatement).

[thereverendbill]

No worries, I drilled the water jacket when i put on my new valve cover, I installed a set of studs with some red loctite and there is no leak there.  The temp sensor like said in an earlier post can just be put back on (mine comes off every now and again. 
On the subject of the oil leaks; did they torque the bolts down correctly? that may be your leak something as simple as the bolts aren't tight enough.  i found my oil leaks are caused by a bad fuel pump that was pumping fuel into the block and thinning the oil out.  It probably has been before I installed the new valve cover and i wouldn't have known always having to add oil because of the leaky valve cover   

[wagoneerhauler]

That does suck.  Hope he gave a discount but doubt that.  Anyway, Bills method with the locktight and stud would be a great way to go.  However, if you want to do with what you have get some white Teflon sealant in a tube.  That's the stuff you'd use for the head bolts on the AMC 8s that go into the water jackets.  Or any other motor with bolts going there for that matter.

[Eagleearl]

That does suck! Teflon tape wrapped around the bolts should also seal the antifreeze although studs with loctite would probably be best. Check to see that they got the gasket in there right for the oil leak. Check to see if they knocked any vacuum hoses off or cracked them while working on it leaving you with vacuum leaks.

[amc78concord]

Thanks for the input, I'll definitely look into my options of the silicone on the bolt.  I wonder if the valve cover has to come completely off again? Because I am still leaking oil pretty good, right next to the carb.  If you look under the car, you can count to 5 and watch a big oil drop splat on the ground.

As for my idle, why does the car not run like how it used to?  It's almost like a surge and then it kinda "dies", and comes back to life...It's not real dramatic when it "dies", but something definitely isn't right.  Maybe there are some vacuum lines that weren't put back right, which I'll have to wait until we get one of our other Eagles out of storage to compare engines with to see.  When the wires shorted out, maybe it hurt my brain box (or whatever it's called)?  My dad said that could be a possibility.

And we managed to get the temp guage fixed, it was one of the fried wires in which he didn't replace.  

[nvsteve]

I think you should start calling the guy that did the work your ex-buddy.

[ammachine390]

What kind of gasket was used? Did they put any RTV on the gasket? Do you know if they torqued the screws down correctly?

[doneagle]

              HI   It sounds to me like the gasket is not where it should be..as for electric. I would undo the tape job they did and see if all the wires are in the right places. While your looking for wires look for vacuum lines off or damaged.check your fuses and fuseable links . I think you should find your problem I hope this helped you Robert....................Don 

[PatrickH]

If you paid shop rates for all that, YOU should be making them stand behind their work or refund your money. That is simply good business. Politely but firmly let them know you expect to get professional work when you are charged professional fees. Most will stand up like men when challenged, but after doing this professionally for nearly 20 years, I know some wimp out. Professional work for professional fees is simply fair and reasonable.

[amc78concord]

im with patrick. if they want to charge professional, they should act professional. and making things right with the customer is professional. im guessing a vacume line or two got melted in the cook off.

also, it is a very narrow seal right along the carb there. the gasket has to be set just PERFECTLY. it may not be in the sealing area just right. im a mechanic myself, and sometimes i dont have time to do all i need to do. that doesnt matter, i will NEVER pay anyone else to do my work for me. they never care about what your doing like you will. like the old sayin goes "you want something done right, do it yourself." atleast if something isnt correct, i can only blaim myself. (or if i burn up wires, its my own bad.) lol. been there, done that from lack of attention to detail.

I agree with you as well casper.  I really would've like to have done this myself, but I wouldn't consider myself that mechanically inclined to do so.  Mainly because I didn't want to drill the extra holes in the head in fear I would hit the water jackets, but he ends up hitting them anyways... I might as well should have done it myself as the way it turned out...     

I believe my engine is running bad maybe because my timing could be off, as it seems like I can hear the next cylinder fire in the exhaust, would lead me to believe that the exhaust valve is open on one and the next cylinder is already firing... maybe that could be timing?  Just trying to think of some options here...

[Eagleearl]

Make sure they didn't pull off the plug wires and put them back wrong. They shouldn't have needed to touch them but they may have. Timing should not have changed if it was running right before.

[LaGuardia]

And, about electrical issues, don't forget to check out the famous ground spot on the firewall, on the left of the brake booster. It's so near the valve cover "working area" that I would not be surprised if they misplaced or otherwise tampered with it.