Yesterday I wrapped up a massive set of repairs to my 2000 XJR. I planned to make a celebratory post with pics of the job, but first I need to sort out a stinking valve cover leak.

There's a small but steady pool dripping from the bottom left, passenger side cover bolt onto the (shiny new) manifold gasket, where it eventually drips onto the exhaust. Of course I used all new, OEM gaskets during the repair, and I'm 100% certain I did not over torque any bolts. I am about to:

• Pull the cover
• Remove and clean the gasket
• Clean the groove in the cover
• Clean mating surfaces
• Inspect the cover (again) for cracks
• Inspect the cylinder head for grooves

The cylinder head was resurfaced on both sides during the rebuild, so I don't expect any problems there. Any other ideas before I reset the valve cover? I put a few miles on her last night and after weeks of work it was a pretty magical ride. Can't wait to say this job is done!

 

if youre talking about a leak where the front cover meets the head, you should put a small dap of sealant there. There is even a small "pad" there on factory gaskets at this point to apply sealant too. Otherwise you may have "rooled" or displaced a seal when putting the cover on. Dont worry, both are easy fix and occassionally happens to pro's too. Just we know through experiance to watch for this very closly.

 

Ah, thanks, Brutal. Should have mentioned I correctly applied the sealant to the two seals. In fact, I got overly **** about what sealant to use and splurged on the $10 stuff from the dealership after grilling one of their mechanics

The leak actually seems to be at the back, bottom corner of the head. Pulling it now to see if I can trace the tracks of oil to the real source. Making me crazy that this one little thing out of a cylinder head rebuild is keeping me from opening up the throttle to check out the new SC pulley I installed!

 

the back area you mentioned is the most common spot to roll the gasket. If you take it off now you just need to reinstall correctly. If you wait youll need a new gasket

 

Tried to reinstall the seal and it was even worse. Putting it back together now with a seal straight from the dealership. It definitely sits in the cover better than the one from the kit i used for the head gaskets, so it seems the passenger side was just wrong in that kit.