cmdetailing Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Hello Everyone, So the issue at hand. After I rebuilt my engine and went into the tuning process I began to notice a quarter size pool of oil consistently underneath my car in the shop. The oil is not leaking out at a fast rate, but enough of a leak to annoy me. I bough new half moon plugs and valve cover gaskets. I forgot that I reused the old bolts for the valve cover so I'd to replace those too. Need part number! Does anyone have any tips for changing the gaskets in the engine bay? Seems well at most a pain in the A**. THANKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanyb505 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Not sure why you need new valve cover bolts. They don't get torqued down super tightly. Anyway, there are two different styles used. The 3 short barrel ones go up front (toward radiator). The remaining 5 are longer barrel. http://parts.bestbuysubaru.com/a/Subaru_2005_Legacy25L-TURBO-5MT-4WDGT-Limited-Wagon/_54102_6029212/ROCKER-COVER/B13-020-02.html Make sure you torque them correctly, per the FSM sequence. It's not a lot, 4.7ft/lbs I think. Best to use an inch lb torque wrench. In addition to sections of rtv specified by the FSM, I also added a thin film of rtv to the head around each of the bolts. I took my engine out just for the room I wanted while cleaning the mating surface. I already had a lot of stuff off the engine, so it added may 3-4 hours to the project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdetailing Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 Not sure why you need new valve cover bolts. They don't get torqued down super tightly. Anyway, there are two different styles used. The 3 short barrel ones go up front (toward radiator). The remaining 5 are longer barrel. http://parts.bestbuysubaru.com/a/Subaru_2005_Legacy25L-TURBO-5MT-4WDGT-Limited-Wagon/_54102_6029212/ROCKER-COVER/B13-020-02.html Make sure you torque them correctly, per the FSM sequence. It's not a lot, 4.7ft/lbs I think. Best to use an inch lb torque wrench. In addition to sections of rtv specified by the FSM, I also added a thin film of rtv to the head around each of the bolts. I took my engine out just for the room I wanted while cleaning the mating surface. I already had a lot of stuff off the engine, so it added may 3-4 hours to the project. Thank you for the link. I think that I may have put a long barrel bolt in the lower front. I would love to take the motor out to do this, but it would be a huge hassle, so I will try my luck in the bay. I will be sure to double check that I apply RTV is the correct spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdetailing Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 What type of scotch pad did you use to clean the head area where the gasket goes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanyb505 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Standard green from Wal-Mart. I tried to scrape off what I could with a gasket scraper with reasonable pressure. Then I used my finger nail. My rtv was about a week old, so it came off mostly ok. Then I scuffed it with the scotch pad, then wiped what I could with acetone. Are you sure it's the valve cover? I'm fresh off a rebuild as well...I got similar leaks to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cBax Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Mine also leaked after assembly. One of the techs at the local dealer told me to smear RTV along the entire bottom side next time. I did...and up to both half moons. One of my half moons had probably a .5mm gap on one side. I couldn't get it out without breaking it while in the car since I originally RTV'd them in. So I sanded/filed it down flush with the head surface. Both of these combined fixed my leak. My point is to make double sure that you have a perfectly flat surface across the half moons AND smear a light coating along the bottom and up the sides and you should be good to go. New gasket will help. I did, it was cheap. No need for new bolts unless yours are rusty or stripped. '05 Outback XT www.facebook.com/baxleysspeedshop www.baxleysspeedshop.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdetailing Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Mine also leaked after assembly. One of the techs at the local dealer told me to smear RTV along the entire bottom side next time. I did...and up to both half moons. One of my half moons had probably a .5mm gap on one side. I couldn't get it out without breaking it while in the car since I originally RTV'd them in. So I sanded/filed it down flush with the head surface. Both of these combined fixed my leak. My point is to make double sure that you have a perfectly flat surface across the half moons AND smear a light coating along the bottom and up the sides and you should be good to go. New gasket will help. I did, it was cheap. No need for new bolts unless yours are rusty or stripped. I purchased new valve cover gaskets and half moons. That idea with the rtv sounds solid to me. I will have to do that, I do have some black rtv so I hope that does the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanyb505 Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 I used "The Right Stuff." A little expensive, but oil hasn't leaked from anywhere I used it. I think Sgt gator said it was a much better formula, closer to oem, than plain old black rtv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cBax Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 I used Permatex grey. I think most of my leak was caused by the half moon not being seated all the way. '05 Outback XT www.facebook.com/baxleysspeedshop www.baxleysspeedshop.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdetailing Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 Last Night after fighting to get the valve cover off I cleaned the edge with brake cleaner and used the RED RTV that I had on hand along with the new gasket. Going to let it set for about a day or two and see the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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