Hey guys,

Went to install valve cover on the KA24E. Leaked like crazy. Turned out I had to helicoil not one, not two, but all eight bolt holes. One bolt then proceeded to break off in the helicoiled hole, after drilling the s*** out of it and barely having enough wall to retap again, put in another helicoil but that one and another bolt still wouldnt hold down to torque.

So I've finally hit the point where I'm just going to Permatex Ultra Red the thing all of the way around because it's still leaking.

The question is - the rubber seal that goes along the inside of the valve cover, when I go to Permatex this cover, do I leave that in place or remove it? I would argue that it helps guide how far down the bolts that secure the cover go. On that same token, I figured I'd rather ask then just blindly leave it off, have it turn out to be an issue, and have to scrape all of that gasket maker off again.

Thank you for the advice!

CL

If you have mistakenly read the torque as foot pounds instead of inch pounds and applied more than 10 times the required torque, those small screws will break every time. These valve cover screws do not get torqued tight enough to break them. Try, try, again. Use the gasket