Hey guys, i took off my valve covers to paint them, and now i cant get them to seal back up. they are leaking, pretty good. i re-used the old gaskets, and they didnt leak a drop before. what are the covers supposed to be torqued to?
thanks.

 

18 ft/lbs.

I had mine leaking quite bad recently. I replaced the gaskets, but I think it was mostly the surface not being clean that was causing my leaks. Also check to see if your gaskets are cracked. A few of mine were after I messed with them a bit.

 

Pull them back off and clean the mating surfaces real well. They should seal right up unless the gaskets were real hard and cracked or something.

 

I replaced my valve cover gaskets not long ago after checking my valve clearances. I bought my gaskets at AutoZone which are FelPro. The set includes the bolt "O" rings. Torque the bolt to 216 in-lbs or 18 ft-lbs.
Hope this helps.

 

The Fel-Pro gaskets will get hard and leak in a couple years. Get the gray ones from Cummins.

 

I was just going to ask what color your gaskets were-Dave beat me to it.

I have gotten grey gaskets at the parts stores, and they look, feel, and perform just like the Cummins gaskets. Only drawback is, the cost is about the same anymore. Try your local Case IH dealer, and tell them to look it up for a 580E backhoe (and that you need 6 gaskets for a 4 cylinder engine).

Daniel

 

...and tell 'em you need the o-rings, too. Cummins doesn't throw them in like Fel-Pro does.