nickyrhodes

Hi,

Had a leak on the drivers side rocker so decided to replace it, local scoob wanted to take the engine out to do it so i thought i'd do it my self. Read up about it on here and used gasket sealer when i put it back together. Started leaking again in a couple of weeks.

So, took it back off, cleaned it up and put lots more sealer on, and its started leaking again.

Any ideas please? i'm starting to get peeved off with it now lol

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

They are a bugger aren't they.

I take it you're using new gaskets? Have you replaced the ones round the spark plugs and used sealer on them?

nickyrhodes

Hi,

Sorry about the delay there...

Yeah brand new gasket set all round and lots of sealer, sick of it lol, it can just burn the oil and smell bad.

Only thing to note is that they were aftermarket ones, not genuine subaru but they looked identical to me...

It may well be leaking from the bolt gaskets (which are new) but its hard to see from either angle

bobthebodger

My stinks like a ***** but what the hell....losing about 1 cup a year lol

ScuuBdoo

have you the bolts torqued correctly?

Get genuine subaru gaskets too.

DeanF

iTrader: (1)

Hi .
Put a little dollop of sealer under the bolt head insert rubbers when you rebuild just to give a really good seal, Also clean off all matting faces Etc with a carb/brake cleaner etc so that there is no oil contamination.

Best of luck

Dean

nickyrhodes

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

The gaskets are made from a rubber that is permanently squashed down when the bolts are tightened. Compare the old and new gaskets when you get them, and you'll see what I mean.
You'll need to get 9 gaskets per side - the big gasket to go round the rocker cover, two gaskets for the spark plus, and 6 bolt gaskets. There are also two solid plastic half moons on the free end of the cam, which can sometimes crack, but don't always need changing (I didn't bother).

Make sure the cover and the mating face on the head are spotlessly clean before putting the new gaskets on. You should only need a small amount of extra sealant on the big gasket on the corners.

Tighten up the bolts enough to squash down the gasket and feel tight, but don't over-tighten or you could strip the thread.

Over 3 years since I did mine, so it can be done.

Good luck!

Hakon

Ordered gaskets for my MY98 from a dealer to do myself. From the vin number etc, the parts dept were unable to tell if the gaskets were T shaped or Y shaped in cross section. Could only be confirmed be comparing against the one coming off.


Hakon

robsw

Use 3bond to seal the gaskets in on both sides, available from Subaru for about £12. Just done mine and no probs so far, and I used the old gaskets as they were in good condition.

stuart148

iTrader: (12)

got mine done about 3 months ago ,,on a sti v4,,only cost £100 for both sides,,,from hdc subaru

stu

nickyrhodes

I called my local stealer before i did it myself, they wanted to take the engine out and said it would cost more than 350 quid (for one side)!!!! Hence i decided to buy one from a factors for 25 and did it myself in less than 2 hours. I would have paid 100 no probs...

cheers

ClintUK

Due to main dealer giving me the wrong sided gasket I had to reuse the old one - needless to say it didn't completely stop the leak, but I did find that the main culprit was the bolt seals.

Helped a lot changing just the bottom ones of these on each side with Blue Hylomar.

Like Nick I'm struggling with motivation to get the propper seals done now although I have them

Only smells when I'm stuck in traffic, fine on the move

nickyrhodes

Cheers, i'll try and get a mirror down there or something to see if its the bolts...

silent running

Time to resurrect this one I think. What a nightmare. I'm about to take the RC off for the third time to try and get it to seal. I've no problems with the bolt washers, they're fine. The spark plug seals were fine. The actual RC gasket is a pain in the ****ing ****. What a **** design.

It's no problem seating the new gasket (genuine Subaru) in the groove round the edge of the RC and in fact it's bedded in nicely with 3-bond. But as I'm tightening up the bolts, instead of gradually compressing nicely, the rubber's just distorting and popping outwards or inwards so that it's not flat to the head face anymore. What a piece of crap.

Anyway, the upshot of it is that if I barely tighten it up much further than getting the two metal edges to sandwich the rubber, the gasket will stay straight. Then I thought running a long line of 3-bond all the way around would keep it dry. But NO. I've got a leak working its way along from the front of the cam sprocket end, which I can't see properly because of the black plastic cover in the way.

What's the secret here? Where does the 3-bond need to be, and where should I avoid using it? I was sure every face was spotless and clean of oil. What's making the gasket pop out when it's tightened down? And how the hell are you supposed to torque it to 5Nm when you can't even get a torque wrench and socket in there at the bottom? And why isn't there even enough clearance to drop the rocker cover into position from the top without the new gasket smearing the bearing caps with 3-bond? Should I run some around the actual head face rather than putting it onto the gasket and lowering it into position?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! Help! This shouldn't be so difficult! Should I just throw the crappy three bond away and use orange Hermetite which are least works properly and doesn't set hard and shiny in half a bloody minute.

Chip Sengravy

Tip for you...

I used to work with big diesels, and a compound that would always work where others wouldn't was this


It's like a solvent based rubberised compound, you apply it to all faces and gaskets, let it go tacky, and nail it up. I even cured leaks on diesel pipework where the female thread was still full of fuel and by only applying it to the male.

codfather

iTrader: (1)

just thought id add to this..i had what i thought was a leak from my rocker cover(drivers side) so all the seals were replaced with genuine subaru parts only to still have a leak. Upon further inspection it was found that i had oil leaking from the cam seals which was running under the cam cover and onto the exhaust heat sheild.
Just a thought though..
Sy

silent running

Well keep the ideas coming...my plan for tonight's work is to get the damn thing off again, clean all the three bond off again, clean up the head face again and this time run a line of three bond around THAT then put the thing into position as quick as poss.

evogt

My off side gasket has started to leak and Bulldog Subaru in Twyford have quoted me £90 all in to change the gasket.

codfather

iTrader: (1)

Sounds about right mate..any self respecting scooby mechanic could replace these in about an hour(i watched glen @ carnetix do mine) plus ur talking about £45 per side for a full set of gaskets (bolt seals, half moons, spark plug seals & perimeter seal)
@ silent running. run your hand under the cambelt cover and if their is any oil residue, try taking off the cambelt cover and with the aid of a small mirror see if you can see any oil inside the cambelt area to see if their is any leakage from ur cam seals.

silent running

Any tips to getting the cambelt cover off or is it pretty much just unbolting stuff? I'll happily remove the whole cover if it'll make it easier to put the RC gasket and 3-bond on nice and tidy with no leaks.

codfather

iTrader: (1)

the cambelt cover has a few bolts recessed but with a bit of knuckle grazing its easily removed..
i guess ur removing the air filter box and associated parts to make a good a clearing as possible to remove the rc.

silent running

Yes everything out already so plenty of room to work from the offside wing, just I can see that the oil leak is coming from the cambelt end, but not sure where because the cambelt cover edge is in the way.

silent running

Aha! I might have found the problem...I am using Three Bond 1104 and the stuff that the workshop manual recommends is 1215. 1100 series seem to be described as liquid gasket, 1200 series are silicone based liquid gaskets. So that must be why it doesn't seem to work as expected. What a **** I am.

Anyway, there's no way I'm gonna get hold of the right 1215 stuff in the next few days, so I actually might be better off breaking out the Hermetite Instant Gasket which looks, smells and feels exactly like orange silicone sealant. Anyone got experience of using alternative products to seal up the rocker cover with good results?

Cheers!

codfather

iTrader: (1)

i used some alternative gasket sealer...either hermatite gasket sealer or loctite. just make sure it is non hardening and can withstand extreme temperatures

Neilg7777

iTrader: (9)

After doing mine and finding that doing the bolts up was a bit** i looked around halfords and found some weired shaped spaners with also have a ratchet that are made for tight areas i am going to get one of these as i think mine is still leaking.No how you feel

silent running

You'd think with the rocker covers on each side instead of on the top of the engine, they'd at least put a groove in the head face and the rocker cover face so that it seals up properly just on the gasket.