So my motor is alive! runs nice, but my tappet cover leaks like a sieve.

Did I miss something? it's leaking a lot. Like probably a cup in 10 minutes.

I put the 6 bolts in with the little plastic washers. Made sure the new cover gasket was on there the right way, and properly. Torqued the bolts down good and tight. Even used blue locktite so they wouldn't rattle loose but it's leaking copious amounts of oil?

Did I miss something here? Yanking all the stuff off the left side of the motor is not at all appealing to me right now...

What did I do wrong?

 

Best guess is the gasket fell out of place, or......
I haven't been into mine yet. If the tappet cover is sheet metal, you have to "straighten" it before you put it back on. That amounts to tapping the dented in spots where the bolt heads were back out, even past flat a bit. Then when you tighten the bolts, the force spreads out on the gasket. If you don't, the sheet metal bows out between the bolts and leaks.

Most people over tighten the bolts on a tin cover, also. They just have to be snug, not torqued.

 

Good and tight might be too much torque. It is only a tin cover and, like an auto tranny pan, overtightening can distort the metal so that no gasket can seal it. Also, did you put a straight edge across the mating surface when it was off to see of it was tweeked from the get go?

 

Maybe you went too tight? 18ft-lbs is all it takes. Cummins gasket? Sharp edge on the cover maybe, cut the gasket when you tightened it down?

 

j_martin beat me to it, and with a better reply no less

 

I torqued it with the torque wrench to 230 inch pounds. Just a hair over 19 ft lbs. I didn't do as martin suggested though...

Nor did I check it with a straight edge... taking it off is not at all a fun job when the motor is in the truck...

 

I hate to say it but it sounds like the cover needs to come off again. The gasket could be mislocated, the cover may not be lined up just right or bent or there is old gasket or foreign debris left somewhere on the gasket surfaces.

 

no gasket material is on there. That's for sure. I made sure everything was very clean.

I'd think it could be misalligned a bit too, but either way looks like it has to come off Well I guess that's my christmas day task!

It's leaking a lot across just about the whole bottom edge of the tappet cover so something's not right.

 

Well, it has to come off, straighten as I said, and either hold the gasket in place with fine sewing thread at the bolt holes, or stick it into place with something like permatex #2 on the cover.

You probably hosed the first gasket.

hope it helps

 

Did you remember to reinstall your oil sender?
Which end is it leaking from front, back?

I believe the cover gasket fits around the sheetmetal cover so it should stay put, maybe some of the old rubber gasket was still on the side of the block.

Jim

 

yeah the gasket does fit around the sheet metal. It actually slips off kinda easy on the long edges. My thought is that it slipped off along the bottom edge because it's leaking pretty much across the whole bottom half of the tappet cover. And it's losing enough oil that that would make sense.

 

That would make sense, the cover is so long the center sagged before it got secured.

Just like working on an old inline Chevy motor of the 60's

 

that's my thought and hope. I'm going to go out and lossen off the bolts and try to push it back in place and see if that works. I'm hoping for the best here.