Miata Mailing List: August 1999, Message #667

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Results of Phase II of the situation.

     This time I didn't have nasty squalls getting in my way.  I got 
the car to my work spot and opened the hood.  Guess what... my valve 
cover gasket is leaking more than it was yesterday.  It was wet 
around much of the perimeter.  The car had sat for a day and I only 
drove it a half mile and it was still wet.  I think I found my leak.  
:-)     
     Of course, this leak is right in front of my interior air 
intake.  I know there's that rubber gasket seperating the two 
compartments.  I guess it's not up to snuff.
     I decided to see if the bolts were tight.  I took my torque 
wrench and set it to 5 ft*lbs (book spec was 48 to ~77 in*lbs which 
equals 3.66 - 6.42 ft*lbs).  Every bolt was loose.  I reset the 
wrench to the lowest setting of approx 1 ft*lb.  Still every bolt was 
loose and didn't make the wrench click.  Either my bolts were 
stretched by the infamous Yokohama gorilla or my torque wrench isn't 
accurate at the bottom part of its range.  I'll take the latter, 
please.  I need an in*lb wrench.  None of the bolts felt like they 
were tightening.  That's not good.  I broke a cover bolt on my first 
Miata when I mixed up in*lbs and ft*lbs (oops!).  That bolt felt like 
mine do (soft and useless).  :-(
     Does anyone know the length and thread size/pitch of the cover 
bolts?  I know I'm not the only one to break one.  It's OK to reply 
privately on that one.  I won't tell your dirty secret.  ;-)
     I bought some Simple Green to clean up the oil mess.  That stuff 
works pretty well and my car has a sassy Sassafras scent to boot.  
:-)  Now that the area is clean, I can track future leaks.  If the 
leak returns, I know I need a new cover gasket.  I wouldn't be 
surprised if the gasket got messed up by the oil getting past it 
(swelling/warping/etc.).  
     Should I also get a cam sensor O-ring just as a matter of 
procedure?  Is it easy to R&R the O-ring?  I know it's easier to R&R 
with the cover off.
     The Simple Green put some streaks on my valve cover.  Should I 
use some other product to remove them?  I guess the SG is spreading 
the grease into the pores of the cast aluminum.

Thanks for the help.  Any suggestions are welcome.



Mike Lowe    mikelowe@phoenix.net    http://www.phoenix.net/~mikelowe
'96 Miata R (B Stock autocrosser)
'94 Miata (CSP and rising -- future turbo car)