I ordered a new cam cover gasket and spark plug O rings set and picked them up from Jag today. I was planning to change them tomorrow, but checking JITS tonight I see that I should have also ordered O rings for the 8 bolts.

What's your opinion, press ahead without them or order and do the job in a weeks time?

 

I have had my covers off and on several times without changing the bolt 'O' rings and without leaks.

I would have thought that the 'O' rings should have come with the gasket set. They do with the $40 FelPro set for the Lincoln LS.

Tight Wad Tom

 

Agree. the bolt o-rings will likely be fine (but do note there are 14 per side, not 8), plus a couple of additional 'special' seals at the two bolts between the spark plugs..

 

I'd go with TP - clean faces are the thing with these.

Torque them by the book, I've seen engines with overtight covers only to crack around the bolts when they heat up. Hopefully yours haven't.

 

Thanks guys, I'll push ahead tomorrow.

 

I just replaced my o-rings on my 99 XK8. That was the problem of my no start as the oil had filled every spark plug hole. The kit I purchased from RockAuto had them all and the cover gaskets too. However, those cover gaskets were not thick enough to seal. I eneded up getting my cover gaskets from Jag which were correct thickness and using the o-rings from the FelPro set for the Lincoln LS. Not a lot of cost for those rings just to have peace of mind. Just my two cents worth!

 

OK, all went well, you can see here where the oil was leaking out.



The head.



The problem area.



Also there were leaks round the spark plugs.



All well now.