Valve cover gaskets & IMRCs

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AndyT

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Hey everyone. So, my valve cover gaskets are starting to leak, along with the oil pan at a pretty decent rate. I pulled the spark plug covers off, and the thing was covered with oil. I lifted up on a coil, and the boot was soaked, and when removing it from the top of the plug, oil was dripping off the boot. So, I've decided that I love this damn car too much to get rid of it. I'm thinking of throwing it in my grandparents carport for a few weeks and slowly pulling the valve covers off, and doing the gaskets, coils, and plugs. Or maybe just boots if I can get them separately. Also, eventually working my way down to the IMRCs. Realistically, how much time do you think I would need to be taking up their driveway to get this stuff done? I work at a Chevy dealership M-F 8-5, so I would be there from about 6:30-9ish M-F and some time on the weekends. I would have to take repairs slowly, because things have been extremely tight money wise. Good thing there, is the valve cover gaskets aren't that expensive....
 
i had to change my valve cover gaskets when i first got the car, and never having EVER worked on a lincoln before it was not a fun task.after fighting to take them off, the drivers side i could not get on untill i removed the brake booster which a friend swore you didnt have to but was conveniantly not available that weekend. did it, but man what a pain. and if your in there do the plugs and wires,ive got cop's as do you yes you can get boots seperately, i know the cop's are expensive but with the mileage,just do it change 'em all. dont know how mechanically inclined you are, but the hardest part is putting the valve covers back on. dont know what you meant by working down to imrc's unless just to clean'em but if they're workin' let'em be. with all my cussin and r/r on the booster it took me 3or 4 hrs so id say you wont be holding the garage hostage that long. good luck
 
Good to hear. It has a code for IMRCs stuck open, so I guess I'll clean them while I'm there. Thanks for the info.
 
If you take the driver side 13 mm motor mount bolt out and and use a jack to lift up the driver side of the engine the driver side valve cover comes right off without touching the booster or master I had mine off in 15 minutes when I swapped out the powder coated valve covers, pass side is easy too after you remove the throttle body.
 
Well, got the pass side cover off tonight after work. Lotsa oil in the spark plug wells. Boots were soaked, some tore as I wiped them down. Oh well, at least its getting done. This is the kit I ordered, and it looks pretty complete, but I have a few questions for anybody that can answer them.

I see it comes with the cover gaskets, ok good. Now, the small o-rings, those go around the screws that hold the cover down I assume? The plastic pieces push out, and these o-rings go around them, then push back in? The 4 bigger o-rings, those go around the plug openings, but when I took my cover off, their were rubber/plastic seals that pushed onto the holes the boots go down into. So, I'm not sure how the o-rings would work in that setup? Lastly, my Ford manual says to put two 8 mm blobs of engine sealant along the covers, toward the front of the engine. I noticed the gasket covers have two smaller spots where the gasket gets fatter. Is that so I don't have to use sealant, or do they serve some other purpose? Any ideas?
 
AndyT said:
I noticed the gasket covers have two smaller spots where the gasket gets fatter. Is that so I don't have to use sealant, or do they serve some other purpose? Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I can't remember because it's been awhile(had to pull the front cover to replace a timing chain tensioner), but if that is the spot where the gaskets meet with the seam at the front timing cover, that is your explanation right there. And you will want to use an RTV sealant where those seams are on both sides or you very well may develop a leak there. This also applies where the front of the oil pan gasket meets the timing cover below the crankshaft pulley.

The best way to clean the IMRCs in my opinion is to remove the intake and get up close and personal with them. You'll need some fuel line removal tools to disconnect the supply and return lines, and the rest is just nuts, bolts, electrical connectors and vaccuum lines. The hardest part can be removing the coolant crossover pipe. That thing might be pretty stuck in there. There is a thread here somewhere I think specifying o-ring sizes for that pipe. If you go this route, also use a torque sequence when re-installing the intake. Go in an X pattern working your way out from the middle. You'll also need intake gaskets and IMRC gaskets, but they are cheap and when I cleaned my IMRCs the gaskets were pretty ugly too, so you're actually killing two birds with one stone. ;)

Someone point him to the o-ring thread if you know where it is.
 
Here it is off of the other forum

Originally Posted by DLF:

I've found the p/n (391533-S100) and the specs (1.05x1.25x.10) for the crossover tube o-rings, which BTW, are a standard -121 o-ring.

I've discovered the specs on the o-ring for the crossover cap. It's a standard size; .551" (9/16") x .70" (1/16") -015 o-ring.
 
Mine were super gummed up and I also had the same code in the PCM with no MIL light on.

I took off the intake and the IMRC's put them in a solvent tank at work and scrubbed the :q:q:q:q out of them with brake clean and a brush.

You can try and soak them with Seafoam before removing them and see if that helps but mine were beyond that since some old lady owned my car since new and it had never been past 3K rpm to open them up.
 
I replaced my valve cover gaskets and cleaned the IMRCs about 3 weeks ago. My suggestion is to pull the intake and clean the IMRCs. Pulling the intake will make the valve cover job much easier as well. I had to pull the brake booster to get the driver's side valve cover off. I'd say you can do it all in a long Saturday or Sunday. It took me about a day but that's because I kept finding one more thing to undo to take everything apart, with a manual it may be quicker. I also spent the majority of my time cleaning the IMRCs. They were filthy. The caps on the bottom of the valve covers that go around the spark plug just push on. You can use a little RTV to hold them in place if want to so they don't slip off when you put the valve cover back on. The grommets around the bolt holes pop out with a small screw driver. Then put the new O-Rings around the sleeve that goes around the valve cover bolts. My crossover tube was a major pain. I ended up yanking it off with a cherry picker. Luckily I didn't bend it. I don't recommend doing this unless it is a last resort.
 
Got the pass side back on today. Started pulling the drivers side tonight. The cover is loose and moving around, but there's still a lotta crap to move out of the way.The boots wont be in until Tuesday night, so that buys me some more time to finish her up. Hopefully I can get the covers back on, and new plugs in, then just pop the boots on and put the coils back on, then be done.
 
I did mine last year before Carlisle. It was my first time working on a DOHC 4.6L and overall it wasn't terrible but I did take my time too. I removed the motor mount bolt to jack up the motor some but I also had to unbolt the master to strap it out of the way. At the same time I pulled the cowl to replace a bad wiper motor and I believe that gave me a bit more room too. Good luck!
 
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